A
Pieter Vink is from a small town near Amsterdam in Holland. Last week he found himself refereeing a big game in one of the most famous grounds in Europe – Arsenal v Liverpool in the quarter finals of the Champions League. And this author thinks he did an admiral job of allowing football players to play football. Most commentators believe the game was a compelling, exciting advertisement for the drama and passion that is at the heart of football, the world’s game. However,A those same commentators have at worst slammed, and at the least questioned the same referee’s decision not to award Hleb and Arsenal a penalty when Kuyt made contact with the midfielder in the box. Yes,A Kuyt touched Hleb’s shoulder.A Yes, it could have been a penalty, but so could a later trip on Torres by Gallas, Gerrard could have gone down in the box before he crossed for Liverpool’s equaliser. Perhaps the reason he didn’t was that he had noticed that the referee was allowing 50/50 situations to be contested.Vink had also kept his yellow card in his pocket, much to the relief of the seven or eight players on a yellow card and in danger of missing the next round. If he had started bringing out cards and penalising any contact, then the game would not have developed into the thriller it was with Liverpool’s backs to the wall and Arsenal throwing everything at them.A A Well done Mr Vink!A
