tonight was easily the roughest soccer game i’ve been a part of. it’s ridiculous to me that any team, especially a social league team, would be playing so recklessly. what’s the point? it’s social league.. actually, forget that. even if it were the competitive league in lexington, so what?! it’s game.. do you really need to check people into the boards every two minute? honestly, blue cards were flying almost on the minute every two minutes. not to mention the yellow card, the first i’ve seen indoors, that was issued in the first half. later, people playing on the other field would comment that it sounded like a hockey game with all the people being thrown into the boards.

it’s one thing to play intensely. it’s another to play recklessly. and playing so vehemently after continued penalties is just ignorant.

thankfully, the second game was the polar opposite. if someone made a rough move or fouled, they’d call themselves on it, admit their foul and apologize to the other player, making sure they were fine. it was honestly a pleasure to play them, even though the game didn’t start until 11:15pm.

the best part of the night was, though, between games. the first game i played, we were light blue and the other violent team wore red. how appropriate. when the first game finished, i threw on my dark blue shirt for the next team. one of red team players from the first game was still on his bench and he looked at me, seeing that i was playing the match, said, “hey, just warning: if you have the same ref we did, he’s awful and calls everything. if you so much as touch the other guy, he’s going to blue card you.”

i smiled slowly, realizing he didn’t recognize me, and simply pointed to the light blue shirt in my hand. i watched as the gears ground against each other, smoke billowing from the extra load of trying to put the clues together. bingo! it hit him.. “oh.. you were on the other team.” a pause and mental search for a way out.. “well, man, did you see the play down in the corner over here? they were just going for the ball! the other guy just ran into the wall.. no foul, no contact.. he just ran into the wall and the ref called it. don’t you think?’

i couldn’t really believe it. i stared at him another second while he blinked hard. was he getting this at all? again, i let a smirk creep across my face. “that guy in the corner was me,” i said. “it was a good call. believe me, i didn’t ‘just run into the wall’. i was checked. i would’ve stopped if i were on my feet but since your man rammed me, i was thrown into the boards. it was a foul.”

“but you guys were just going for the ball.” it wasn’t getting through. i thought i should probably cut my losses and continue on.. but i added just a little more. to his credit, he wasn’t getting passionate about it so it wasn’t an argument, not at this point.

“it’s one thing to go for the ball. it’s another to check a guy into the wall while going for the ball. and it’s social league.. if this were competitive league, i could understand the intensity. it’d still be a foul but the intensity would be expected. this, though.. there was no reason for any of this,” i said. “and honestly, i’d consider myself pretty fair about most calls like that. if it’s not a foul, i’ll mention it to the other player, tell him ‘tough break’, and shake it off. that move, though..” i shook my head and walked back to the bench to get ready for the next game.

i hope he stuck around to watch the second game. the entire time i wanted to grab his team and say, “see! same ref and no blue cards for flagrant fouls! why? because these teams are playing clean and honest.” that’s how soccer should be played.. with respect and honesty and a sense of humility. (never mind that those three aspects should be applied even more judiciously outside the boards. that’s for another post)

really, though.. is that too much to ask?