Good morning! Working as a soccer referee is a thankless task. In his obituary on former World Cup referee Vinnie Mauro, SA’s Mike Woitalla tells of the abuse (both physical and verbal) the Italian-born Mauro endured after he took up reffing in Massachusetts. One of the craziest stories involved a trip to the Sun Belt Conference championship in Alabama, where Mauro attended a U-8 girls game in which the daughter of the family who housed him was playing. One of the refs didn’t show up, so Mauro, always willing to help out, jumped into action. After the game, a woman came up to Mauro and let him have it: “I don’t know where you got your referee license but you sure aren’t qualified to referee!”
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