Here’s a great story from the Guardian about one over-enthusiastic referee full of his own performance when he should have been subordinating himself to the match.
Imagine the scene in the English Premiership, Liverpool against Leeds at Anfield, Liverpool’s home. The home team are the favorites; Leeds have something of a mood of inferiority whenever they go across the Pennine hills and into Liverpool to play the powerhouse. The crowd at Anfield are notorious for giving some stick to visiting players, to disturbing them with singing the anthem “You’ll never walk alone”.
True to form, Liverpool score first from a deflection of a free kick taken by Dietmar Hamman. Against the run of play, however, Leeds equalize in the second half. But Liverpool press again. In the build-up in the middle of the park, Vladimir Smicer was fouled, but the referee, Mike Reed, saw that it would be better to allow play to go on than to give a free kick to Liverpool.
Seconds later Patrik Berger scored to make it 2-1 for the home team, and that’s where the referee forgot himself. So delighted was he with seeing a foul, allowing play to go on, and then seeing a goal come at the end of it, that he thrust his fist into the air as though he himself had put the ball in the net. He’d made a good call and celebrated!
Now imagine you are an insecure Leeds fan watching this. Not only have you just gone down 2-1 against one of the best teams in the Premiership, but you see the referee cheering the score! What chance have you got when even the referee is against you?
One more goal came in the dying minutes of the match, which ended 3-1 for Liverpool. The referee’s actions had been seen by the press and provoked a lot of discussion for more than a week afterwards. Reed had to explain his actions to the powers-that-be, and they were not impressed. Although they knew that his actions had not affected the game or the result, they cautioned him that “..it is essential that match officials do not make gestures which could lead to misinterpretation. The impartiality of our officials must not be open to question. Mr Reed has been warned to keep his emotions under control in future or face further action.”
Some on the disciplinary committee wanted to suspend him. Others thought it was not an important issue. But refereeing being as political and competitive as it is, and Mike Reed being a well-known and high-flying referee, it did not take long for Brutus and “lean and hungry Cassius” to bring about his downfall.
By the end of that season he was gone from the Premiership, and the Guardian would like to hear from you if you have seen him….