A referee was so drunk at a Czech football match that he constantly fell over and sent off three players for no apparent reason before police stepped in and breathalysed the boozed-up official.
“His breath smelt like a brewery and he didn’t hide the fact that he had been celebrating a birthday,” Karel Dusek, an official from the Jestrabi Lhota club, told the Lidove Noviny newspaper.
With his shirt muddied by his numerous falls, the referee Tomas Fidra then sent off three Jestrabi players in the game against Tynec-nad-Labem.
Having to face a team with just eight players, the home side agreed not to attack.
“Even their supporters applauded this gesture,” said Dusek.
“There’s no rule which bans a drunk referee from taking charge of a match. If we had refused to continue to play, we could have been sanctioned.”
Eventually, the regional football authority decided to annul the match, which ended 1-1, on the basis of fair play.
The referee risks a 12-month suspension.
by Buford Balony
