Too Many Whistles, Not Enough Action
By Antje Derks
Having just sat through two of the most boring matches this season, I find myself asking are umpires becoming so over-zealous that they are now responsible for interrupting the flow of the game?
Certainly the one-tap rule has helped prevent unnecessary hogging of the ball, but now players are being blown for this and other very minor offences every five seconds. The whistle goes, players can’t believe it, the crowd yawns and the umpires can’t agree on the foul committed, so throw the ball in.
The first of the two Gold Cup matches at Cowdray was between Sumaya and Les Lions I. Within the two hours of play, I counted at least 27 whistles, most of which resulted in a throw-in or spot hit and very few penalties.
The match was tight initially and interestingly Les Lions I replaced Francisco Elizalde with Jen Du Plessis (brother or Nachi, who was playing for Sumaya) before the match started. Perhaps due to injury, but this was ruled out, when Elizalde came on in the second match to substitute.
Unfortunatley, after having recieved a yellow card for bad behaviour, Eduardo Heguy got a ball in the face during the very next play and had to be replaced by Augustin Merlos. From then on things went down hill for Les Lions. They finally circumed to Sumaya 13-7.
The next and last match of the day ended Loro Piana 10 v Zacara 7