Insanity

A couple of weeks ago I turned down the chance to line at a match in Nottingham meaning I had a free afternoon for the first time in a while, in which I spent watching Mansfield Town as well as getting a bit of shopping down. Looking back, I would rather have earnt money no matter how little, than spending what I needed for the wedding, so when given the chance of being an assistant instead of having a free day, I snapped up the game.

The match was an under 17's tie between neighbours Bilsthorpe Welfare and Welbeck Welfare and it would be one to remember. It was played at Garibaldi school, which as it turned out to be both sides home ground as the managers came from near-by Clipstone so brought the teams out of their respective villages to here.

We had a long, cold wait in the rain for the game prior to it to start before we took our positions and the game got underway. The referee was an experienced, ageing chap, whilst the other linesman was a very young lad who looked fairly new to officiating.

The first half went ok, Welbeck took a 2-0 lead into the break and the only concern for me was that there were one or two exchanges between a Welbeck full-back and a Bilsthorpe winger that went unchallenged by the referee and threatened to boil over, but what was to happen in the second half was totally unpredictable.

Bilsthorpe came out strong and pulled a goal back within 5 minutes of the restart, before pulling level a further 5 minutes later. They now looked favourites to take the game but 5 minutes later the game turned nasty. It started with an unpunished challenge on a Bilsthorpe player when he'd taken the ball cleanly from a Welbeck striker who then careered over the top of him when it looked easier to step around him. This infuriated the defender so the next chance he got to put a challenge on the culprit he did so, and strongly. I was at the other end of the pitch but had a clear view of the tackle and could see that no attempt to play the ball was made. However, it was right in front of the young linesman who called for a corner as he'd only followed the path of the ball, whilst the referee having the comfort of 2 qualified assistants, chose to officiate the game from as close to the centre spot as possible, so was fully 30 yards away from the incident. With the assistant having called for a corner, the Welbeck players were incensed at the tackle and surrounded the young lad, but the referee had signalled foul and went to speak with the linesman. The young lad had said that he'd called a corner but the referee assured him that it was a foul and needed to know whether it was inside or outside the box. A penalty was awarded, which then infuriated Bilsthorpe and after a slight melee, with the keeper having to be threatened with a caution before taking his place on the line. The penalty was scored and so Welbeck returned into the lead, 3-2.

From the resulting centre kick, Bilsthorpe now had no intention of playing a clean game and instead of passing the ball about and looking to mount an offence, they passed the ball to the nearest opponent so that they could put in as heavy a challenge as possible. Welbeck were wise to this tactic so with regaining the possession, they avoided the first 2 or 3 lunged tackles - which again appallingly went unpunished by the referee, despite no contact being made, he should have pulled it back and had words with the players. Welbeck were incensed with the tackles that were being put on them so when they next lost the ball, they took it upon themselves to dish out some justice and a 2-footed reckless tackle was put in on a Bilsthorpe winger which led to a huge 22-man brawl. I was shocked to see the resulting battle, you'd expect a fair bit of pushing in this situation and at worst a punch or two thrown but in this scrap there were rugby tackles, kicks, lunges, punches, you name it. The referee finally managed to get control, with the help of the managers who pulled their players apart and now it was down to the referee to deal with the aggressors. He immediately sent off the Welbeck player making the initial tackle before returning his cards to his pocket and looking like that was enough. I had been keeping an eye out for any assaults so that I could help the referee remove them and so when it looked like no further action was to be taken, I approached the referee and asked him what else he was going to do. It was obvious that he didn;t know what to do and asked for my opinion so I pointed out a further 3 players who must without question be sent off, 1 for a punch, 1 for a rugby tackle and punches, and another for chasing the tackler around the pitch before dragging him to the floor and kicking him.

The referee pulled the first player over and sent him off and began to look for the other two when suddenly a further distraction got everyone's attention as a number of Bilsthorpe players ran over to their keeper to prevent him from harming anyone as he had left the field only to return waving an old metal school chair at the Welbeck players encouraging them to 'come on then!'

Their was no choice for the referee as he blew the full time whistle and abandoned the game at the 60 minute mark. It was now down to the league to deal with and he made a quick exit. I wasn't in too much of a rush and didn't feel endangered myself, which you wouldn't've blamed me after the incident but I got to speak with both managers and explain the situation and what would happen next. I was asked for my support in written reports to the FA and I told them I would put one in myself. I think both teams wanted me to bail them out of trouble at the expense of the referee who had handled it poorly, but whilst I agree the game could have been managed a lot better, both sides had to take responsibility for their actions.

I was asked for my report which I put in and I have yet to hear what has resulted from it. The game got put in at 3-2 to Welbeck but the result has not stood. I just hope I'm not in charge of the next time they meet! Whilst I wasn't particularly pleased at being involved in my first abandoned match and brawl, I was delighted with the way I had conducted myself and helped the referee.