Kung-Fu Hussle: Referee loses control in the J-League
Monday, April 13th, 2009
The action below comes from Sunday’s J-League meeting between Nagoya Grampus Eight and the Urawa Red Diamonds. With Urawa holding a slim 1-nil lead heading into the final stages, order and control was lost by the match officials as a series of flare-ups began popping up all over the pitch in the final minutes of play.
The first incident arrived in the 82th minute.
Urawa (playing in white) forward Robson Ponte (pictured) was found battling with Nagoya’s towering centre-half Takahiro Masukawa as the defender shepherded the ball out of play for a home throw-in. Eventually the ball crept over the touchline, however by this stage the pair has become all too familiar with one-another as tempers frayed with the ball running dead.
Despite being several inches shorter than his opponent, Brazilian Ponte refused to back down from the confrontation and, with the pair head to head, Ponte appeared to tease the Nagoya number 5 by motioning towards a headbutt. Despite any contact appearing to have been made, Masukawa took his cue and threw himself to the fall as if to feign injury, before leaping to his feet seconds later with the red mist having clearly descended.
Amazingly, neither player saw red.
Then came incident number two in the 85th minute. With Nagoya still looking to equalise, a cross was over-hit to the back post where Urawa full-back Hajime Hosogai looked to see the ball run out of play. However, again a Nagoya player, Yuki Haki, was on the scene to make life slightly harder for the number 3, with Hosogai opting to lose his composure and shoulder-charge Haki onto the deck, even though the ball was several feet ahead of the pair.
Again the limp-wristed officials refused to take appropriate action, provoking Nagoya’s Milos Bajalica to start throwing his weight around. Again, no-one saw red.
The last incident rammed home just how weak the referee was.
Seconds later Nagoya’s number 8, pint-size Brazilian midfielder Magnum, felt that he had been unfairly pushed to the ground in a chase for a loose ball. With the ref again refusing to blow his whistle, Magnum charged over to the man in black and started screaming in the official’s face before the ref eventually pulled out a yellow card. The frustration was written all over Magnum’s face.
Footage of all the incidents referenced above can be seen here.
8 Responses to “Kung-Fu Hussle: Referee loses control in the J-League”
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April 13th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Are you a Urawa fan by any chance? None of those incidents warranted a yellow, never mind a red. Referees are usually overly critical so this is good to see.
I don’t konw what the normal standard of refereeing is like in Japan but I’d say those decisions were fine, perhaps with the exception of the last one but you can’t see it closely enough to be sure.
April 13th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Yeah, gotta agree with SammyLee. He made the right decisions there, besides the last one where he missed the pull.
Please dont enter into the realm of bias, this is normally an excellent site.
April 13th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
The “headbutt” was a horrible case of diving. There wasn’t even contact made and he goes down like he was shot. I hope they use the video evidence to punish him even further. Things like this have got to stop and have no place in football.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Agreed. Ref did a great job in difficult circumstances. Referees have a hard enough time as it is without being accused of incompetence when they’re actually having a good game.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
That guy Magnum should have been sent off for dissent - you can’t scream in the ref’s face like that!!
All the other incidents were hand bags at 10 paces, I was hoping for some proper fighting from the sound of the report.
They should have let that diving no.5 go and start a ruck with that Brazilian nipper, would have been hilarious.
April 14th, 2009 at 8:07 am
wtf? ref having a good game? he is supposed to controll the game and he clearly did not. idk what he was taught to do when players start massing like that, but your supposed to step off the field and card anyone who follows you as they are leaving the field of play without permission. all he did was wave his hands at the dissenting players. the second one was clearly unnecessary force or unsportsmanlike behavior, obstruction…take your pick, def a yellow. and the pull was clear as day as well. sometimes good refs get put in bad situations and things get out of hand and its not their fault, theyve done everything possible. this wasnt one of those times, the sitations may have arrised no matter what he did, but he didn’t do everything possible.
April 14th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Does no-one else appreciate how hilarious it is that the ref’s card snapped in half as he takes it out to book a player at the end of the clip??
April 14th, 2009 at 11:15 am
I’m very happy to see people supporting the referees in this game. Referees have certain powers and they can control the came up to a point. However, sometimes players just decide they’re not interested in playing and would rather mess around with eachother. Ignorant observers usually attribute this to the referee “losing control of the game.” I’d advise them to think about how easily when there are 4 of you officials would it be to control 22 players, not counting the bench players and coaches. You have limited means in which to act, you can’t force them to knock it off and play.