Referees

Saturday’s match between Bundesliga leaders RB Leipzig and relegation-threatened FC Ingolstadt was remarkable in that the team at the bottom pulled off a highly improbable 1-0 upset. 

What was exceedingly exceptional was what transpired in second half stoppage time. Referee Markus Schmidt, who’d apparently just put down Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince before running out to officiate this match, showed that it is indeed safer to be feared than loved.

All referees get a lot of flack from fans, but one ref in England got so much flack he actually cancelled a match.

From The Guardian under the headline "Referee abandons game after 13 minutes in response to moaning fan" (phrasing):

We have hit another milestone in 2016 as 32-year-old New England Revolution striker Kei Kamara has become the first man, we assume, to receive a yellow card for twerking in the history of association football. This almost goes without saying, but he’s also the first former winner of the MLS Works Humanitarian of the Year award to receive a yellow card for twerking, a distinction that is unlikely to ever be replicated.

Mariga Eugenia Rocca, a female assistant referee whose experience includes multiple Olympic Games and Women’s World Cups, has reported being struck in the back of the neck by a player while officiating a men’s fourth division game in Argentina.

The Argentina Referee Association is backing Rocca’s claims and has submitted a report to the Argentina Football Association for their review.

No player wants to receive a yellow or red card during a match — what they do want now is a green card. What’s a green card? A green card is given to a player to reward them for their good sportsmanship and other acts of virtue on the pitch. Chivalry is alive and well.

Green cards can be earned for such actions as stopping play when a player is injured, helping the referee make the appropriate call or admitting to diving.