Arbiter Oostrom lets play on despite protocol: ‘Mayor has final say’
NOS Football–
Referee Ingmar Oostrom had wanted to stop the FC Utrecht-RKC Waalwijk match for good, but Utrecht mayor Sharon Dijksma decided otherwise. And then, to the referee’s surprise, the soccer players had no desire to act. How did these spontaneous actions come about?
RKC goalkeeper Etienne Vaessen kept the ball demonstratively under his feet during the last minutes of the game. Agreed work by both clubs, it appeared afterwards.
“It has to stop at some point with this stuff,” mused captain Michiel Kramer of the Waalwijkers, who had already accepted defeat deep into extra time with a score of 2-0 on the board.
But why then was the protocol of the KNVB already deviated from. With strict rules, which were tightened only a month ago to combat misbehavior by supporters?
Clear language
The Football Association hit plain language after the cup match between Feyenoord and Ajax got out of hand: “If objects are thrown onto the pitch again, the referee will decide to stop the match permanently.”
That referee, however, he knew nothing about it. And he tells us it’s something else after all.
“The final decision is not mine,” Oostrom said. “We have a protocol. But the mayor has final say based on public policy.”
Watch the full interview with referee Ingmar Oostrom here:
Referee Oostrom explains why FC Utrecht – RKC started again anyway
Oostrom was glad he did not have to make a decision, he even told us. And Mayor Dijksma, for her part, thought it was too short-sighted to say that she decided for safety reasons that play should continue.
“That has to be seen more broadly,” she informed NOS via a spokeswoman. “You also have to include the situation in that. There were only two minutes left to play. Is it sensible then to go and strike that match still?”
Beer throwers outdated
Better to keep the peace then. Besides: the Utrecht beer-throwers were soon outdated, so to further dup the other nineteen thousand or so spectators….
And the sporting consequences of striking should not be underestimated either, as was evident recently when NAC took another point against Willem II. Nota bene after the game was interrupted when the home team was trailing at the hands of their own fans. They were rewarded a little bit after their misbehavior.
Things have not improved for the time being, no matter how hard everyone tries to find solutions to this problem. Of the four major league games so far this weekend, three have already been temporarily suspended.
“For the muscles, sitting inside for 15 minutes is not good either,” Utrecht captain Nick Viergever bemoaned. “We shouldn’t want this.”
More on this difficult file in the sports explorer below:
Sportexplainer: Why soccer law is tough but doesn’t work
