Last week I refereed a boys under-19 cup game here in Frankfurt, Germany, and it was as intense and competitive as I’d expected. There were eight yellow cards, one five-minute time penalty, and adismissal. It was the home team that took the red card, and also conceded two penalties in the course of their 6-2 defeat. They’d have conceded a third if I hadn’t played advantage. All this made meslightly apprehensive as I went to fetch my game fee, always paid in cash by the home team after the final whistle.
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