Game
29, 2017-18
Last spring at one of our regular referees'
meetings aimed at our ongoing edification, I presented a critique of our online
test on the Laws of the Game, where the object seems to be not to test you and
make you a better referee, but to catch you out and go, "Ha!" As an
example of the multiple stupid questions we are obliged to research and
correctly answer once a month, I cited the following puzzler: "During a game
on a snow-covered pitch with the ball in play, one of the players throws a
snowball at the opposing team's coach. What is the referee's decision?"
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| White lines - don't do it! Bravely, we did. |
Why is this such a stupid question? I asked
rhetorically. First, there's a long winter break in this country, so you rarely
if ever officiate matches in the snow. Second, due to global warming it hardly snows
during the winter months any more at all,
let alone outside of the winter break. Third, a game on the hypothetically
snow-covered pitch would probably be called off anyway. And finally, in the
very unlikely event that you ref a game on a snow-covered pitch, what are the
odds of a player throwing a snowball at the opposing team's coach?
