Thank God, I chose to watch the match at home with my boy and not at some pub as I usually do: I was so angry, I would have harmed a celebrating Arsenal fan!
I said it and will repeat: the next world war is going to be fought over a dispute in soccer if we don’t do anything to curb soccer injustice. It might sound far fetched, even absurd but it is the reality. Consider a hypothetical situation.
The world cup is being played in Russia next year or in the middle east in the year 2022. It pits Nigeria against China for example. The referee say, Craig Pawson or Lee Mason makes a wrong call against Nigeria and an altercation starts in the midfield. That moment moment of madness spirals out of control and is replicated in far away Lagos as livid Nigerian fans terrorize Chinese infrastructure workers in Nigeria. The situation gets out of hand and is replicated in major African cities including Nairobi where Kenyan soccer fans vent their anger on anything Chinese. Everyone loses their minds and before we know it, governments make unreasonable decisions and before we know it, we got a world war in our hands!. The world war onne begun by the shooting of some Austrian prince somewhere and a simple criminal case snowballed into a world war! A world war only requires a small trigger to erupt!
We need justice in soccer. I sympathize with Burnley who for the third time yesterday fell to Arsenal, thanks to a wrong refereeing decision. The goal line technology has gone along way in resolving goal line disputes. We must now agitate for replay and slow motion pictures to be used to ascertain whether an incident is indeed a penalty.
Additionally, strong retrospective punitive action must be taken against players who simulate in the penalty area. Ramsey should be suspended for three matches. Lee Mason should also be suspended for his indiscretion to serve as a warning to centre referees who don’t do their work well. We need soberness in soccer because it is a highly emotive sport that can ignite an unlikely world war!
