Referee undid ARFC

Playing in front of just 77 fans at the magnificent natural-grass pitch at United World College, ARFC was defeated 2-3 by the REFEREE instead of the opponent.

The reason for the low turn-out was mainly because of the absence of almost half the first team warriors namely, dependable Jinzhong (work), determined Huiming (family affairs), hard-man Tjioe (overseas work), sublime Khim (overseas vacation), towering Toh (overseas vacation), ARFC scoring legend (hunting Mas Selamat) and reliable David (keeping his lovely son Marco company). As such, ARFC has no choice but to enlist the assistance of Soon (hardworking Tong’s friend) and versatile Kiat’s friends, namely, Teo, Josh and Rafael. Speedy Hee also sprung a surprise when he returned from his injury suffered on 03 Feb 08 at Ahmad Ibrahim SS. Deadly Robin also helped out for his 2nd appearance in our new jerseys.

ARFC thus started with guest-player Teo as GK, unpredictable Blackburn and deadly Robin on the right, left-foot wizard Bernard and talisman Derrick on the left, astute-reading sweeper Elvis partnered hardworking Tong at the heart of defence, influential Sebastian paired up with Soon in the middle of midfield, with powerful Alvin up front with Josh. Versatile Kiat, Rafael and speedy He were the subs.

As usual, ARFC stamped its authority on the game and started dominating proceedings. Talisman Derrick continued his good form by creating a first golden opportunity in the 7th min. In a mazy run, he eluded 3 players to face their keeper one-on-one. Alas, his placing shot was touched round the post by their keeper for a corner. Unlucky!! Powerful Alvin and deadly Robin also impressed with several penetrative runs on the flanks.

ARFC opened the scoring just another 7 minutes later. The hugely impressive Soon won the ball on the left and laid the ball to the on-rushing influential Sebastian outside the penalty box. The latter then pushed through the ball into the penalty box and ran into the box in his attempt to beat the off-side trap. However, the ball was too far ahead and instead the ball went to Josh who was clearly in an off-side position. Despite the opponents’ protest, the referee did not blow for an off-side and Josh gleefully thumped the ball home. 1-0!!

This strange decision soon back-fired on ARFC as the referee knew he had made a blunt error and tried to compensate for it by giving strange decisions in favour of the opponent. Some classic examples were his off-side decisions for ARFC warriors who had obviously ran in from deep and yet he gave off-side. The best example came in the 27th min, the over-lapping hard-working Tong broke clear of their defence and squared the ball BACK to the lurking talisman Derrick who duly placed the ball into the net. To the whole stadia’s astonishment, the referee disallowed the goal for off-side!!!!

The opponents equalized 7 minutes later. Influential Sebastian failed to challenge a high-ball pumped from their keeper and their midfielder headed the ball on for their striker who was also in an off-side position. Again, the referee ruled in favour of the opponent who then equalized. 1-1

Disaster struck just 3 mins later when the opponents capitalized on a static ARFC defence to head a looping ball over our guest keeper. 1-2.

When play resume, ARFC calmed down and searched for an equalizer which came just 4.7 mins after the re-start. Unpredictable Blackburn, who took over the keeper’s role, superbly pumped a high ball all the way near the penalty box to the waiting powerful Alvin. Their defender then tried to head the ball back to his keeper which was anticipated by powerful Alvin. He then took the ball away from their keeper and expertly thumped the ball home for his 43rd ARFC goal.

At this stage, the referee again started giving out very strange calls which clearly and severely affected ARFC’s play. Nevertheless, ARFC tried its best to keep a cool head and speedy Hee nearly put ARFC ahead but his chip was just 0.77 inches off the mark. Influential Sebastian also picked up a loose ball from a corner but his drive from 37 metres cleared the cross-bar by 0.7 metre.

In the 77 mins came the strangest decision by the referee. Their direct free-kick was blocked and diverted to their off-side striker who was nearly standing on par with unpredictable Blackburn at the goal-line before the kick was taken. However, the referee allowed the goal much the chagrin of the ARFC warriors. With this decision, almost all the ARFC warriors lost heart and for the first-time ever, influential Sebastian lost composure and argued with the referee which was totally uncharacteristic!!!

True enough, the referee’s decisions so incensed the warriors that in the dying mins, powerful Alvin gave an “Eric Cantona-like kick” at their defender but missed him. The move nearly sparked a free-for-all and the referee then cowardly blew for the final whistle to avoid being whacked by both teams.