| As
explained in our villains section, this week we have included Spanish cup
matches for the first time. As matches involving first division teams must be
refereed by the top flight men, 20 of the 24 were in action in the first round
in December and 15 officiated in last Wednesday's second round. Our leader
Turienzo Alvarez kept up his top spot with a total of 15 yellow cards in the
two rounds, and he moves on to 68 cards shown, including four reds, in the nine
matches he has refereed. The man who made the biggest mark in the midweek
second round matches was Pérez Lasa, who sent off three Las Palmas
players and awarded a late penalty to second divsion B side Torrelavega which
proved to be the winner. Needless to say Vinny Samways and his boys were not
over the moon about his performance, particularly as all three red cards were
direct. But on an overall basis, as we are covering three rounds of games with
this one report, our weekly prize goes to Medina Cantalejo. He sent off two
Rayo Vallecano players and showed eight yellow cards in their first round cup
game at Orotava, which Rayo still won on a penalty shoot out. And in the latest
round of league matches, he spoilt John Toshack's first day in charge at Real
Sociedad by sending off Corino for a second bookable offence before half time
with Real in the lead. Zaragoza came back to draw the game and Medina produced
six more yellows to leap up to second place in our chart. A special mention too
to portly Bueno Grimal, who was caught by television cameras in the match
between Rayo and Mallorca joking with the players and rubbing his paunch as if
to say he had eaten too much Christmas pudding. It made us think how serious
and intense referees are in this country, and maybe a few more happy smiling
men in black would go a long way to reducing the stress at matches. Lighten up
guys, its only a game! (08.01.01) |
