'Revenge' fouls and tedious macho posturing

Games 3-5, 2020-21

 

Sometimes you know when a player is out to get back at an opponent. The 'revenge foul' is a particularly hard one to prevent, and short of following the aggrieved player around and shouting 'No foul! No foul!' as they head towards the play, there's usually not a lot you can do. In my first game of the weekend, there's a brutal revenge foul that comes out of nowhere, conducted with the efficiency and cynicism of a Kremlin-backed assassin.

 

Early in the second half, there had been a tussle for the ball in midfield, and a home player came away with the ball. The away team's number 9, who's just come into the game at half-time, complained that he'd been fouled, but I'd seen it differently and let play continue. A few seconds later I had to stop play as the number 9 was now in a shouting match with several players from the home team. I didn't catch exactly what was said, but I showed him a yellow for unsporting conduct and invited him to keep his mouth shut for the rest of the game and play football instead (which, to be fair, he did).

 A couple of minutes later, the same number 9 receives a pass in the centre circle. The home team's number 11, presumably upset by whatever the number 9 had said to him, rushes in at him from behind with straightened leg and takes him out at the ankles. The number 9 falls in pain to the floor (he goes off for treatment, but returns to the game later). I blow loudly, pull out the red card from my back pocket, and the number 11 turns and leaves without the hint of a complaint. Honour satisfied, or something, though it could easily have been a broken leg...

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.