Soccerboy: I, too, have seen injuries from good, clean, play, or "incidentally" as part of the game. Who hasn't? The point is that ANY injury that results IN ANY PART from poor officiating (and I HAVE seen two in the past few years) is unacceptable. Two weekends back, I saw a horrendously officiated/controlled match degenerate into a series of rash challenges, including one that I would characterize as a near career-ender. Thank god the kid wasn't carted off with a compound lower-leg fracture. The ruling: a yellow card.
I will GLADLY stop the stream of commentary on this subject when I see evidence of an active evaluation/discipline system for officials. And good, conscientious officials SHOULD be leading the charge to purge the clowns.
The "game that people love to play" loses all credibility in the context of poor, home-town and/or casual officiating.
