The Rational Ref | Referee right to protect players from objects thrown on pitch
HK referee Liu Kwok-man was correct in law and common sense to take players off the field when Iranian fans threw explosive projectiles
Bombs and missiles in deepest darkest Iran are a part of daily life, but surely not on the soccer pitch?
Flash! Boom! A pebble-sized explosive detonated dangerously close to players and four match officials – all from Hong Kong – last week. Judging by the blast radius it’s lucky no one was seriously injured.
Videos have exploded online with various reports suggesting it was a bomb or a grenade. At the very least, the explosive device was a powerful firecracker.
The blast occurred in the final minutes of an otherwise uneventful match in Foolad Shahr Stadium in Isfahan during an Asian Champions League quarter-final first-leg match. With the match scoreless, the 9,000-strong home crowd of Foolad Sepahan had become increasingly restless. So when visitors Al-Ahli from Saudi Arabia won a corner, the fans heckled, hollered and hurled missiles around the corner area near assistant referee Chow Chun-kit.
Chow raised his flag to tell referee Liu Kwok-man that debris was littering the corner area. Liu ran over to check and was followed by three Sepahan players. They were not happy with the delay. They started complaining and gestured that things were not that bad. One player bent down and picked up what appeared to be a rock and casually tossed it a few metres off the pitch. Then boom!
The explosion from that “rock” shocked the two match officials plus two players and they instinctively moved for cover. Amazingly, the other player who was complaining the most was unfazed and totally oblivious to the danger as he continued his ranting. Although the five individuals nearest the incident is a small sample size, it is not too far from the truth to say that the incident suggests one in five people involved in the beautiful game are so engrossed they forget there are more important things in life than soccer.
The first thing on the mind of referee Liu was the safety of everyone in and around the pitch; which is what all good, responsible referees are taught. Liu immediately moved away from the area and signalled to all players to leave the field of play. Liu’s action was correct in law and more importantly correct in common sense.