Friday 31 August 2018

Why would anyone be a Sunday league referee? The love of the game

Every Sunday footballers gather on the 82 pitches at Hackney Marshes. It would be total chaos but for the men in the middle

By MUNDIAL, part of the Guardian Sport Network

There are 23 games of football going on at Hackney Marshes this morning and around the same number will be kicking off this afternoon. There are big, wardrobe lads; there are wiry, ironing board lads; there are stocky, tumble dryer lads. There are all the languages, all the races, all the religions. Tracksuits on, boot bags in hand, they walk past the cafe, into the foyer and over to the fixtures table to find out what pitch they are on today.

They’re thinking about their performance last week, about who they have this morning, about how they’re going to make an impact in the first five minutes. Without them, there would be no football at all. No screamers, no crossfield passes, no last-ditch tackles. No free-kicks, no corners, no sendings off. Without the referees, there’d be chaos.

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from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2MGxftu

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