And as I am in the mood, let me post something else. Again in English. I type faster in English 🙂 In my favorite topic – soccer.

So yesterday, there was a game between teams that are not so dear to me. One of them, playing in red, being the mortal enemy and all other soccer cliches for my favorite team and the other, having the luck of being managed by the most annoying soccer manager ever. So I didn’t watch the game. Just watched some highlights as I usually do when I don’t care who wins or loses but still think the play itself will be and worth the 5-10 minutes of watching.

And then it started – first it was the so called commentators on the telly, then it was my FB friends and then the English soccer media. All of them with the endless narrative of “this player was shown an unjust red card”. For this challenge:

So I thought. Let’s read the rules of the game. And I did: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/refereeing/law_12_fouls_misconduct_en_47379.pdf:

“Reckless” means that the player has acted with complete disregard of the danger to, or consequences for, his opponent: a player who plays in a reckless manner shall be cautioned
“Using excessive force” means that the player has far exceeded the necessary use of force and is in danger of injuring his opponent: a player who uses excessive force shall be sent off

Look at the picture (or just find a video in the net). Read the two lines above. It is that simple.

The problem with the two lines above is not that they are wrong. The problem with the above two lines is that soccer referees are not following them consistently. The rest is media and fan talk. But please – before talking, read the rules. Reading shall set you free.

PS. In the meantime, Nigel De Jong sues Nani for copyright infringement.

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