Last weekend, for my sins, I went with my
Dad to watch Gainsborough Trinity play Alfreton Town, two teams at the lower
end of the English regional sixth division (National League North).
Gainsborough haven't had much success lately, so when they went 1-0 up after
half an hour the celebrations were more than you might expect at this level.
The goal scorer sprinted towards the home bench and jumped into the arms of his
coach. The rest of the team followed and there was an almighty love-in.
My dad, who's very much old school when it
comes to sporting behaviour, groaned at this excessive display, just as he'd loudly
objected earlier to one of the Gainsborough players trying to get the referee involved
in a long and pointless discussion about the exact place where an opponent's
free-kick was about to be taken. The Alfreton players, meanwhile, had spotted
that the Gainsborough players were now all in their own half, emoting by the
bench. They had the ball at the centre spot and were ready for a quick restart.
They looked to the referee for a signal.
And according to the laws of the game, he should have let them play. They would
have had a clear run on goal, aside from maybe the home side's goalkeeper. But the referee refused to give the signal for the restart until all the Gainsborough players
had finished hugging each other and had lined back up in position.
