York 2nds protest as ref costs them the game

Remington calms his troops

• Sunderland 2nd XI 3
• York 2nd XI 1

It's an old cliché to blame the referee for defeat, but when York's 2nd XI traveled to the Academy of Light in a clash with Sunderland's 2nd XI, the referee ruined the game to such an extent that the away side were compelled to leave the field with 10 minutes still to play.

In sharp contrast to the hurried preparations Remington's side had to endure in their last BUSA away fixture against Newcastle, the York side arrived with plenty of time to soak up the atmosphere. The stage was Sunderland's brand new training academy, with individually named changing rooms, and elaborate paths to the pitches which would have been more suited to California than England's North East.

The pitch was flat, freshly cut, and looked a brilliant surface for moving the ball about on. Something the players had plenty of time to practice in a warm up that lasted nearly two hours.

At least 45 minutes after the scheduled start, a referee finally turned up and the game was allowed to start. As it turned out, he need not have bothered. It became quickly apparent that decisions were won by the team who shouted the loudest.

Worse still was the attitude shown from the home team. Club President Alex Richards said: "They were not there to play football. They were the most malicious side we’ve played this season. Our players were getting kicked about the park, and there was absolutely no protection for them. I’m not moaning about refereeing decisions but really when it gets to a stage where our boys are actually in danger of broken legs, I’m not happy to let them carry on."

Our players were getting kicked about the park, and there was absolutely no protection for them
Alex Richards

Eddie Silson had given York an early lead with a sumptuous strike into the top corner, allowing the away side to sit back and play on the counter. Sunderland's attacking was selfish, and despite firing a couple of shots goalwards, ultimately impotent. This flaccidity left the home side resorting to increasingly malicious tactics, and half time came just soon enough to prevent the game from boiling over.

Captain Remington was facing the difficult task of calming his players down, but the team did well to avoid stooping to Sunderland's level. With the darkness closing in the second half was a dreary affair. The referee was increasingly biased towards to the home team, in stark blindness to their increasingly ugly challenges.

It was dark, it was beyond twilight, it was literally dark
Alex Richards

Sunderland's attacking threat was revived when through a tactical substitution they went with three up front, allowing them to pump long balls for the remaining 20 minutes of the game. As the light conditions worsened to what Richards described as "dark, it was beyond twilight, it was literally dark", a loss of concentration at the back gifted the undeserved equaliser, but that was to be the last rational act of the game.

Their players were laughing in disbelief that this ref had actually given it.
Remi Remington

Remington described Sunderland's second goal as "absolutely ridiculous". He added: "One of their players was about 10 yards offside. Everyone on the pitch knew it. When that striker put it in and the ref gave the goal half of their players were laughing in disbelief that this ref had given it."

Soon after, Sunderland got their third, in even more dubious circumstances. "The referee was talking to one of their players for some misbehaviour or dissent, when their lad grabbed the ball gave themselves a corner, took it and as a result they scored. The referee didn’t even know what was going on, he hadn’t even awarded a corner. He wasn’t even looking when it happened, but he gave the goal", said the club's president Richards.

"At that stage I thought I’m not risking our players' safety any longer for this, it was just a joke. An absolute farce. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before."

Richards went on to challenge the integrity of the BUSA organisation by asking the points be awarded to the York side, saying, “I’m prepared to take things to any level of discussion that BUSA want to. It was all completely unacceptable.”

"I just think it’s a bit of a shame. The way we were playing when were actually allowed to play by the referee looked extremely good. They were trying to embroil us into a fight effectively, but I was quite proud of the way the boys showed discipline and composure. We didn’t let ourselves go to their level of disgraceful language and shocking tackles. I’m proud of the boys for the way they handled themselves.

"The way they were treating our boys was just unacceptable. They weren’t interested in playing football. It was a shame because you could see a couple of their players actually had a bit of ability. If they had an ounce of sense they might have actually been able to play a bit of football, but they just weren’t interested in that."

It was a disgrace to university football. It wasn’t even worth us waking up this morning.
Remi Remington

Remington summed up the day by saying: "It had turned out not to be a game of football. It was a waste of our time basically. It was a disgrace to university football. It wasn’t even worth us waking up this morning."

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