Question Number: 31013

Law 5 - The Referee 11/12/2016

RE: Travel Under 15

Kathy gomez of Howell, NJ USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 31009

Thank you so much to the referees who answered question 31009. Sounds like time and patience may be the best advice. I will follow up if any action is taken on this matter. Appreciate hearing from such dedicated refs.

Answer provided by Referee MrRef

HI Kathy,
you are most welcome. Hopefully there will be a reasonable outcome or solution It is certainly not wrong to stand on principles, just know that others, even if they may not act like it too you, likely have some ideas or perceptions of things that might not fit your narrative exactly.

I recall a sad moment that began as a very mad and angry moment when I stopped play to deal with a tough tackle where the perpetrator lost his composure and began screaming obscenities into the face of the opponent knocking their heads together in a soft version of the Liverpool kiss.
I intervened in a very forceful manner, separating, getting in-between and admonishing the player for his outrageous behavior. I wound up showing him the red card and sent him off for VC violent conduct. This was late in the second half. Later after the match, I had cleaned up from the change rooms, was on my way home. I noticed him sitting rather forlorn in his car as I was on my way to my truck parked about 10 stalls over . He rolled the window down, I thought he might give me a venomous blast and then softly said, 'That was not me ref I am sorry.' The story? His wife had passed away tragically only a few months previous and this was the day of their 24th anniversary. In a few seconds my apprehension of a man I thought might want to confront me was utterly dismantled by his sobbing with tears running down his cheeks. Nothing in life truly prepares you for the things you are absolutely sure are the truth that are in fact not true at all.

From our pitch to your pitch in the spirit of fair play!