"Men In Black"

I was struck today
Not by a lorry or a bus
But a juggernaut of thought
Where would we be
Without a referee?
Looks so easy from the side
This morning I almost cried
With laughter!
Advantage played-we go three down
You moan at him as if he's a clown
He offers you the explanation
I would say extremely patient
Then puts your nose out of joint
Responding to your second point!
It's not often I praise a ref
Generally they're Mutt and Jeff
Not to mention blind as bats
Hence we scream 'Bloody prats!'
Maybe I'm mellowing in my old age
Losing a lot of my youthful rage
Referee's aren't perfect
Decisions don't always even out
But we play at level eight
Yet expecting whistlers to be first rate.
They do it because they love the game
Do they honestly deserve all your blame?
(Granted it's also tax-free pay
The taxman doesn't have his day)
Don't get me wrong some are poor
But what about players who fail to score?
The man with the badge may be the runt of the litter
But is that a reason to be bitter?

Dulwich Poet 7th April 2013

(I saw the Youth Team today, we lost 3-0, but I thought the referee was superb, & made hardly any mistakes. One of the coaches from a younger team moaned about one or two of his decisions. He should actually have known better, as he is also a qualified referee!)