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I've just watched one of the most bizarre football matches I'm ever likely to watch. Not because of the football but because of a very poor referee.
Basically Aston Villa had Olof Mellberg and Thomas Sorensen playing tonight so I tuned in and watched. Sweden went three up in the first half hour Denmark came back to equalise.
With about five minutes to go there was an incident in the box that the referee missed. Play went on and when a break came the referee went over to the linesman who then proceeded to tell the referee that a Danish player had punched a Swedish player.
The referee then strolls over and rightly shows the red card to the offending player. Just as he's about to put the red card back into his pocket a Danish fan runs onto the pitch and goes to hit the referee. He made contact but because of a Danish player stepping in it was only a brush.
At this moment the referee decides to pull his three colleagues over. After about thirty seconds he decides to call off the game. Remember this; it isn't a Sunday match between two pub teams, it's a European qualifier broadcast globally.
Ten minutes later it's announced that the game ends 0-3 to Sweden.
If the game ended after 45 minutes it would have been the right result but in the second half Denmark deserved the three goals and with a few minutes to go could have quite fancied getting another.
The fan that ran onto the pitch, at best, touched the referee up. It was a brush or a stroke. Yes there was intent but it was nothing.
This game should not have been stopped. Up until this point there was no trouble and it was a drunk bloke angry with a decision the referee made, after not actually seeing it.
The problem is that referees think they are something they are not. They are, quite simply, custodians of the game. they are not there to make such decisions. He should have asked for more stewards and moved on.
The game is bigger than an individual, but it's about time someone told FIFA, who seem to think they can ruin our game.
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