Media Quickies
Here's a bunch of interesting articles concerning soccer referees from a recent search (and a bit of my own editorial comment, of course):Let's start with the typical, from the "It's not MY fault I spat on a player - it's the league officials" department. What the player, suspended for a year actually said was, "I contend that it is the leaders of the league who are the real problem." Way to stick up for yourself, man! Now pardon me while I puke after arriving at the hearing, just like I did at the game, drunk.
More of a typical let's blame the referee for the game outcome type-of-story, but it's interesting to note one thing: If you life in the US (I can't speak for the rest of North America), you're used to, even at the lowest levels of soccer, having three certified refs on the pitch - it's a rare occasion where club lines have to be used - but not in Europe. It's odd that in a country where the sport is much more popular with the adults, games commonly have just one official. They can bitch and moan about the line call but without an AR, there's no way to be definitive about it (this is something I intone to my unaffiliated players each and every week - although they still forget). Just think if we had to deal with that here - at least their fans have an inkling of the game.
It used to be "no blood no foul" - but now even when there is one, it's a bad call. Gotta love how Alex Close butchers this article. First, he gets the "I badly need to learn grammer award" or the alternative, "I write for simplistic morons award" for having 23 paragraphs, 15 of which consisted of only one sentance. Then he gives us these gems (in seperate paragraphs, of course): "He awarded OSU a penalty kick for a borderline foul against senior forward Alan Gordon." Hey Alex? Who's the subject of this sentance - while I know this will actually increase the number of one sentance paragraphs (we'll save that for another lession, junior), learn to use the semicolon! Here's the followup: "After the penalty -- which resulted in a injury to Gordon's head -- Gordon was ordered off the field by Barone because he was bleeding." Normally we would conclude that Alex is referring to after the penalty was called, but not the taking of the penalty kick, but his lack of grammatical skills makes it unsure. But let's cut to the chase, Alex: which body part on a human being is going to cause a bleeding head-wound unless it's done with such force as to be a foul? Answer that one, you dummy (preferably in one paragraph).
This is actually a pretty tame article; it's askiing refs not to be corrupt (always a good thing), and to give as much effort to the lower levels as the high levels (also a good thing). What struck me was the title given to the referees, the Knights of Whistle. I love it! I have no idea if that term is a formal title for the referee's association in Ghana (I found no other references on it in Google), but I'd like to adopt it myself. See, I can be positive in these, too! :)
More positive stuff, but it has to do with Rugby. If you haven't watched Rugby - watch it. You don't have to understand it, just soak in the gritty brutality, then be amazed at how well behaved everyone is. This first article is the more poignant of the two; a lement on how ugly the game of soccer has become. The second is more straight-forward: what can soccer learn from rugby - the answer is "a lot". Let's hope it goes beyond the recognition of a few UEFA officials.