Ultras in the park, and getting away with a conflict of interest

Games 27-28, 2018-19

I'm waiting with the away lads for the home side to come out of the changing room. It's a U19 team in an end-of-season mood, and we make flippant small-talk. "How many of you are playing for the U17s tomorrow morning?" I ask. Four of them raise their hands. "Oh good," I say, "I'll see you there - I'm your opponent's coach." Most of the team laugh and make a comment about how the four players are now in extra danger of a red card so that they'll be banned from the following day's game.

Better be really careful with these today...

I laugh too, but I'm restrained. I've just made a potentially serious error. What if one of these four players does indeed commit a red card offence? This is a conflict of interest that I should have avoided, but I only noticed the anomaly that morning when it was too late to pull out of the game. On the plus side, there's nothing really at stake for the away team in today's game - it's the home side that can win the championship if they pick up three points.

"Can we let off some pyrotechnics?" asks a fan of the home team. Success breeds support, even at this level - he's actually wearing a club scarf. Also, the local fourth division team's game has just ended nearby and a few spectators have found their way across the park from that match to mine. I can safely say this is the first time in my reffing career that I've come across ultras. "You can do what you like," I tell him, "as long as it's after the final whistle." He pulls a face at that, but he sticks to my verbal ban. There's a crowd of around 50, only one of whom regularly shrieks about my ability to do the job - presumably a TWAT with Egyptian Goose Syndrome.

It's an even game until around the 40th. minute, when a home forward is upended in the box and I give a penalty. Only the defender involved, the number 3, tries to protest. It's one of those "what was I supposed to do?" kind of objections. It's like being caught shoplifting and telling the police, "Yeah, but the TV was just there on the shelf and I didn't have enough cash, so what was I supposed to do?"  

Not quite scenes like
these at Saturday's game

It's 1-1 at half-time following a quick equaliser, but then the same number 3 who gave away the penalty gets on the wrong side of a cross and shanks the ball into his own net. It's really not his day. Later he commits a series of niggly fouls and should really be seeing a yellow card, but I don't have the heart. The game ends 3-1, some people run on the pitch and spray the home players with prosecco, and the small-time ultras light their smokebombs and fireworks behind the fence. It's a hard, close game that's enjoyable to ref (no moaning), and fortunately there are no red cards for the players I'll be competing against tomorrow. Though perhaps I should have been a little more bent - they hammered us 5-0.

On Sunday afternoon I ref a girls U17 game. The away team hasn't had a single yellow card all season, and are tying for top place in the Fair Play table with no less than four other teams. Both sides focus on their play and utter barely a murmur of complaint at any decisions. On the other hand, although the girls' teams I've reffed this season have been truly sporting on the field, they don't bother to thank the referee after the game. Still, I'd rather be the invisible old fart rather than the object of hatred and dispute. A decent, peaceful weekend's refereeing free of all controversy. 

Game 27: 3-1 (3 x yellow, 2 x time-penalties)

Game 28: 0-4 (no cards)

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.