Well we just finished refereeing the host nation South Africa against Uruguay and we are drained. As we sit in the locker room, me, Bryan, Wayne and Anthony, we see him. Oh! Oh! Here he comes walking through the doorway between the security guards. It's Jeff our assessor. An assessor is a sort of referee supervisor FIFA provides to really give us feed back on how we did. He tells us what we did good and what we could improve on.
The first thing Jeff, the assessor, does is ask me how do I feel about sending off the goalkeeper for South Africa the host nation of the World Cup and do I think I made the right call?
I said without hesitation. "Absolutely yes!" Jeff's response was "very good, because you were dead on!" Jeff then added you should be proud because as a team you all did great refereeing and you'll have your next assignment later in the evening. Jeff then left the room.
As my team of officials went and took showers, all I could do was reflect on the game and the fact that I sent off goal keeper. The first time in recent memory this has occurred.
It was in the 76 minute, the score was 1-0 Uruguay ahead. I was running in the area of just outside the top of the penalty area, which most people call the penalty box. A Uruguay midfielder had possession of the ball. He took a shot but it deflected off a South African defender just to the left side of the penalty area if you are facing the goal keeper. Because I was already in possession, i looked at Bryan, my assistant referee on the far side first. He did not raise his flag, so I knew there were no offsides involved. A split second later Luis Suarez of Uruguay touches the ball then South Africa's goalkeeper Khune spreads his leg towards the direction of the ball, but clips the leg of Suarez and down Suarez goes. Clearly embellishing from the contact, but I look beyond that.
I ask myself, did I just see what occurred? "yes!"
The first thing I did was blow the whistle as I was running towards the point Suarez was clipped. The second thing I knew I had to do was point in the direction of the mark(the point of 12 yards from the goal line where a penalty kick is taken). My gesture of point to the "mark!" indicates to all on the field and my referee team that I'm calling a foul for tripping and because it occurred in the penalty area, I must then reward Uruguay with a penalty kick. At that moment, Bryan sprints over to the end line of South Africa between the 6th and 18 yard line to be in position of the penalty kick. Bryan quick comes to attention and holds his flag on his left side standing at attention. During pregame discussion, Bryan is aware that his job will be to see if the ball crosses the line or if the goalkeeper infringes on the pk and we'll have to do it again.
Anyhow, seconds later, I can feel my heartbeat racing and adrenalin pumping because i know what the next step is after I pointed to the mark. Because of my experience I know I have to do something that is not favorable, but I have to do what I have to do.
But now everything is happening so quickly and I feel a hand grab my right forearm. It was a player for South Africa pleading for mercy. I pull my hand swiftly away but still keep walking focus on South Africa's goal keeper. I reach to my left pocket first, but realize that's a yellow card. Nope I tell myself. I then reach to my right pocket and with a firm and concentrated gesture, "Bam!" I pull out the dreaded and feared red card into the air standing about 5 feet from the South Africa's goal keeper Khune signaling he is being sent off. I stand a distance to prepare for any sort of reaction. One of my ref friends got punched twice and kicked after issuing a read card, so you have to be careful.
I verbally tell the captain of the South African team who's asking me why? why? I said "denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player's goal. The South African Team Captain said, "but he was going for the ball!" and "we had a defender nearby!" I said that is not the case. I looked at Bryan, we made eye contact and he confirmed my decision with the wink of an eye.
Now Khune is yelling, "you're the worst referee ever!" I ignore him. Now Khune is on his knees lowering his head and pounding his two fists to the ground angrily in disbelief but I tell him he's got to go! So what happens next? So we wait and now I'm surrounded by half of South Africa's team, but they are respectful. They're asking me, "wasn't that excessive?" "Couldn't you have give us some mercy!" "How about a yellow!" I say who's leaving the field in addition to the goalkeeper. The reason is a player on the field has to leave because when a team experiences a red card, that same team must play short, but when it's a goalkeeper who receives the red card, a field player must also depart. Because the rules say a team must have an identified goalkeeper, a player from the field must be chosen to step off the field.
As I sit back with my head tilted back on the wall, eyes closed, I feel a nudge on my shoulder. What is it? What.. I open my eyes and see my beautiful and loving wife. "Honey!" did you fall a sleep again? Can you please drive me to work!"
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