Palmetto 3 - Easley 3
Wednesday, April 16 @ Easley
Goals: Palmetto - #8 Mahaffey (2), #1 Ignacio; Easley - #10 (2) #15 (PK)
Assists: Palmetto - #1 Ignacio, #8 Mahaffey, #10 Nino
GAME CALLED IN OVERTIME!
After a very physical and raucous match between these two teams that was dominated by whistles and cards, the game was finally called after a fight broke out in the first minutes of the first overtime.
The first half was rough and physical with the officials allowing very hard play and a lot of talk between players. There was much cussing and fowl comments made towards the Hispanic players in Spanish that the officials did not know or did not control. This led to high tempers and hard play. The end of half found Easley up 3-2 with the aid of a PK.
The second half was marred by much pushing and too many whistles. The officials tried to gain control, but had lost that respect in first half. Palmetto scored the lone goal to make it 3-3 end of regulation.
As overtime began, the crude comments began again. One of Palmetto's players took offense at being told to go back across the border and his mother attacked verbally. Finally, when he was cussed crudely - another player stepped in and pushed. The pushing led to punches and a fight among the teams developed. The Easley coach rushed the field with no penalty; Palmetto's Ignacio received a red card; both teams began fighting; then both coaches agreed that the match was out of hand and control could not be regained by these officials. The match was called in the first overtime - Tied 3-3.
Sadly - a match between two quality teams was marred by the inadequacy of officials to control the game. Way too much was allowed in the first half and then it became too late to try to tighten down. ALSO - I understand not all officials are bi-lingual, but this is a problem that we seem to face more often than not. An English d*** or h*** is met with an immediate red card, while much cruder language spoken in Spanish is unnoticed and unpunished. I agree that a crack down on language is necessary and is a point of emphasis among this year's officials. But something must be done to not allow such crudeness to go undetected and unpenalized when used in Spanish toward Hispanic players.
