Game
12, 2016-17
Before this game I'd only once been
threatened with violence in eight years of refereeing. I sent off the coach of
a boys U11 team who went nuclear over an apparent handball and didn't want to
let it go. He also didn't want to leave the field. When he finally went he
asked me if he should wait by my car. I should have called off the game right
there and called the police, but two teams of ten-year-old boys were staring at
me and I didn't want to create any further drama or ruin their Saturday
morning.
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| Professionals setting a model example (Pic: Reuters) |
Yesterday's threat was less nuanced. The usual
Sunday afternoon scenario: two men's teams with little ability, a very bouncy
plastic pitch, temperatures in the low 30s, lots of fouls, lots of moaning
(mostly at each other, some aimed at me), the odd piece of football. A bullet-headed
player on the away team becomes conspicuous by his general anger. After one
foul against his team he screams and whacks the ball against one of the subs'
benches out of frustration (fortunately there's no one sitting on it). I show him
a yellow card and he looks at me and asks with genuine bewilderment, "What's
that for?"
Want to read more? Click here to order Reffing Hell: Stuck In The Middle Of A Game Gone Wrong by Ian Plenderleith (Halcyon Publishing), published on August 8, 2022.
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