LOL Football matches have been delayed before in all parts of the world, but it’s usually due to bad weather or perhaps there are traffic jams on the motorways. But I’ve never heard of a kickoff being held up because the match officials got busted by the cops on the way to the ground. Well it happened in South Africa on Aug. 4 when the referees were pulled over by the police for allegedly driving a stolen car. The officials were heading to a South African Premier League game in a town called Rustenberg to call a contest between the visiting Wits team and the Platinum Stars. The police received reports that the car was stolen and hauled the officials off to the local nick in Pretoria. The game was to be shown live on television, but it was delayed by an hour. Once the Premier League got word from the officials that they had been hauled in by the cops, they sent out an SOS for a backup crew of referees to hurry down to the Royal Bafokeng Stadium to handle the match. Derek Blackensee, who is the general manager of the Premier Soccer League, said, “Good co-operation between senior police and the league to get our match officials released. Thanks to all. Thanks also to both sets of match officials -- the original team and the substitute team that rushed to Rustenburg to rescue the situation." The replacement officials ended up refereeing the game which finished in a 0-0 draw. They made their mad dash worthwhile as the referee sent off a Wits player with a red card for retaliation during the game. - LAMPS
Posted on: Wed, 07 Aug 2013 05:08:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015