Back to action

Got back to footballing activities for the first time since the end of May when the season finished.

Tonight was a pre-season "friendly" that seemed to spark violently (literally) into life in the 27th minute with TWO visiting players sent off in the same incident.

I admit I never saw what happened as I was following the corner coming in but the ref clearly did and immediately flashed a double red card at two players from one side and a yellow to the home keeper after the melee settled down.

It was quite a fractious environment from then onwards and killed the match as a spectacle.  You would think 11 v 9 would be a formality, but the visitors closed rank, continued to intimidate both on the pitch and from the sidelines and the game never really got going. 

I spoke with the referee at half time in my club duties role to check on his welfare as it looked like it could blow up big time.  He did seem quite unsettled and threatened.  I wanted to assure him that I would be on the pitch to escort him safely back to his dressing room if matters took a turn for the worse (must be quite scary knowing you're heavily outnumbered).

He told me what had happened:  one player headbutted a home defender and then another one leapt in and did exactly the same.  If that's right, you can't really argue with that and there's no place for that.

The visitors didn't seem to see it that way and have asked me for the video footage off our systems.  Will be interesting to review it as it blew up unexpectedly.

For the football purists, the team with the numerical advantage did win 1-0 and the disadvantaged even missed a penalty that would have given them the lead.

To be honest, the best thing that I can say is that it the players got some minutes in their legs ready for the new season.

EDIT: After reviewing the video, it would appear the referee wasn't right with the 2nd headbutt but I can understand from his position at the time how it MAY have looked like it.