Good morning World. I am going to keep posting because I feel the need to and there is nothing anyone can do to stop me. But please try to anyway. Last night I watched a football match locally, I won't say which one but it was one of the most entertaining to watch.....however it was for all the wrong reasons.
The final score of the game was 4-1 to the home side and I witnessed one good goal, the rest were nothing special. The entertainment on offer which was advertised pre-match was a suspected broken leg, two mass brawls, a 'headbutt', stamping, two red cards, a player that must have graduated from drama school, and the most embarrassing refereeing performance I have ever seen, even worse than Stuart Atwell's 'ghost goal' award in the match between Watford and Reading last year. And no, I am not exaggerating...all will be explained now. I know you cannot wait to find out!
Well let us first deal with the two mass brawls, well that's two issues really, but I don't care, deal with it. A third goal was scored by the home side to make it 3-1 from a free-kick whipped in using the high-speed, gale-force winds to aid it on its way and it was flicked home by one of their players. One of the home side's players decided to give a bit of banter which resulted in him receiving a 'headbutt' from one of the defenders from the away side. I say 'headbutt' because it looked as if he did headbutt him, however it took a FIVE second delay and for the referee to look in the player's direction for him to be sent tumbling to the floor clutching his face. It was a poor attempt and one that would have been scored poorly by the Strictly judges. This then resulted in a mass brawl between players with a number of punches, kicks and strangling attempts going down in the penalty area. However despite everyone in the ground seeing every detail of this fiasco, and the fact that there were three officials, NO ONE WAS SENT OFF. I did notice that the match was being recorded so it will be interesting to see if there was actually any contact regarding the headbutt, and if not, I would like to find out which drama school the diving player attended because they are doing a hideous job and must be put right. The home team's manager referred to the 'headbutt' as something a 'pub player' would do and if anyone in his team did that, they would never play for the club again......interesting.....
The second mass brawl is a lot easier to explain but added further reason to call the referee an embarrassment. One of the away players danced past one of the midfielders and then player came in very high, and once he had been felled, started to stamp on the player. Now if that was me or anyone else in the world, you're hardly not going to react, so when there was a slight kick out to protect himself I wasn't surprised. However the referee had other ideas and sent the fouled player off for, and I quote, "violent conduct." He didn't even do anything! Then fortunately the player who committed the foul was also given his marching orders...ironically he was the player who had previously been 'headbutted' ten minutes prior to the incident!!!
As for the embarrasing refereeing performance...well where do I start? I'll pick out just a few incidents that jump out. The first incident would be that of the suspected broken leg received by one of the away players after a ridiculous challenge in the opening exchanges. Everyone in the ground saw the challenge and the murmors around me suggested a straight red....ohhh nooo, he didn't even see it, and yet he gave a foul...how does this work??? To give a foul he must have seen the incident right??? Clearly not...and the player was stretchered off and whisked away in an ambulence. Disgraceful. Soon after, the referee gave one of the most absurd clown-like decisions I have ever witnessed, worse than the 'ghost goal' decision. A midfielder was receiving the ball into his feet in the middle of the park with no one within ten yards of him. As the ball came in he lifted his foot, stood on the ball and fell over under no challenge from any other player. The referee decided that this was foul play by the ball and gave the player a free kick....ummm?! WHAT!? Yeah I know, sounds stupid but it's true. I'd love to be able to get hold of the recording for this game because so far it appeared that the supporters had paid their entry fee to see the referee and not the game. Embarrassing. If that wasn't bad enough, a cross was delivered a few moments later for it to be cleared by a visiting player, unfortunately due to the strong winds he fluffed his clearance under no challenge and is span out for a corner behind his own goal from 20 yards out, very unfortunate and clearly a corner. Guess what...? Yep, that's correct, the ref gave a goal kick...
All the best,
Ben x
No comments:
Post a Comment