Being a referee is a thankless, difficult job. No matter how well referees officiate a match, they will almost always be scorned by players and fans of both sides. But being a Croatian referee? That’s not so bad, apparently.
During a recent lower-league playoff semifinal match between Petrovije and Momjan 1947, a referee was seen lighting up cigarettes and drinking beer at halftime.
If there’s a better way to deal with divas who complain about every little call, I’d like to see it.
The match in question was officiated by Vidoje Filipov, Josip Budimir and Željko Vukojević, according to Glas Istre, which published the photo in question. It’s unclear which Croatian referee was smoking and drinking beer, but we hope it was the center referee.
We here at The18 completely support the Croatian referee caught sipping a beer and lighting up at halftime. Soccer is a game and even the refs should be allowed to have fun!
We do have to request that all referees drink responsibly. If you’re going to drink and ref, make sure to stretch properly beforehand, pace yourself, hydrate and, most importantly, assign one of your ARs to be your DD.
It should be noted that beer is not a great drink for athletes, as we’ve discussed in the past.
But it makes for hilarious viewing when the players get drunk.