It was a little depressing tonight to hear the MOTD pundits and the respective managers raving about the Newcastle-Sunderland derby, and how it was great to see the passion involved in the game. In fact what they were applauding were season-ending fouls, elbows in the face and obscene language.
Mike Dean did an excellent job. Although Cattermole's foul after less than a minute could have been rewarded with a red card, he kept it to a yellow, considering, I imagine, that he needed to keep at least some of his powder dry.
All the decisions Dean gave - yellow cards, reds for Sessegnon and then a straight red for Cattermole and two penalties - were spot on.
But what's concerning is that this is the measure of a good football match. I'd always thought players were supposed to battle hard, tackle hard and try to win. I seem to have that wrong.
It seems the measure of success is cheating, fouling and the unedifying spectacle of two middle aged managers squaring off against each other on the touchline.
The whole concept of a local derby has, to a large extent, been redundant. The number of Tyneside or Wearside accents on display today was probably two or three. So the players seemed to regard the game as the opporutnity to kick chunks out of each other.
Not an easy match to referee!
No comments:
Post a Comment