TWENTY minutes had elapsed when the bone shuddering tackle went in close to the halfway line.
My instinctive reaction was to play the advantage before returning to issue a yellow card to the offender. However, my colleague in the other half promptly blew for the foul. Given its proximity to halfway we consulted. We concurred it was indeed a cynical foul. I believed strongly that a yellow card was mandated but would suffice. My colleague felt the foul was of disproportionate force and hence warranted a red card. We were deadlocked.
Time to consult our four assistants. The first, a cerebral gentleman of French descent said "I deed not see eet." The second, a tall Irishman dismissed our views claiming we were pursuing a vendetta against the supposed offender. The third said yellow, the fourth bearing a resemblance to Judge Jeffries, favoured a more severe sanction. Again we were deadlocked.
Since the original foul four minutes had elapsed. A pocket of players performed tricks to cheer a freezing crowd. Others stretched to maintain full mobility. Some popped back to the dressing room for a massage and a warm drink.
We consulted the directive -- there was no contingency for an impasse. So I had a good idea. I tossed the coin, it came down heads, and the yellow card was issued. Although 13,000 fans had abandoned the stadium we were happy our new system had resulted in the right decision.
Some pundits believe doubling match officials is "the answer." To those I would advise that FIFA have experimented with this idea and promptly discarded it. And if you've ever run a pub team and struggled to get them to stump up two quid to pay the ref, what chance will you have collecting enough for eight officials?
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