Have kept quiet so far on the incident at Park Island on Sunday when Chris G was shown a red card by referee Anthony Riley but in light of the previous comments, I need to say something.
Chris got a little annoyed by the antics of the Lower Hutt player - Jean Carlo Estrada, the #8. It seemed that every time someone breathed on him, he fell over. Not the first Lower Hutt player ever to have done this.
At one stage in the second half, Estrada fell down, and accordingly a free kick to Lower Hutt was awarded. Chris G ran past the player and as he went past, he bent down and said "you're nothing but a f#%^*(&^$% cheat". This was heard by the referee who brandished a red card.
To me, this is utter crap and I wonder where in the Football rule book where it says that a red card should be issued for this offence. There was plenty of language audible during this game, as there is with others, but apparently Chris was told by Riley that he is "not allowed to use the "c" word". I can understand this if it was directed at a match official, but another player...?
I really wonder at the ability of some referees to see when they are being conned by players. On Sunday it was apparent to everyone in the ground that this was happening. As an old crusty, I yearn for the days when our top referees had actually played the game and had a feeling for it, and not learned it from a book.