guranteed to make your blood boil

<span class="heading"><font size="2">Barnsley 2 Liverpool 3</font></span>

<span class="italic">By Myles Hodgson, PA Sport</span></p>

Barnsley looked set to face an FA inquiry into Saturday's stormy mass Premiership defeat by Liverpool at Oakwell which was marred by a series of pitch invasions and three sendings off.</p>

Referee Gary Willard had to be led off the pitch halfway through the second half for his own protection after one fan ran on in an attempt to confront him and was only removed after a number of Barnsley players, led by Jan Aage Fjortoft wrested him to the ground.</p>

Liverpool captain Paul Ince took the same action on another fan shortly before the end after Darren Sheridan became the third Barnsley player to receive a red card in the stormy encounter.</p>

But quite apart from their problems off the pitch, today's defeat was a major setback to Barnsley's hopes of lifting themselves away from the relegation battle and they will now miss the services of Sheridan, Darren Barnard and Chris Morgan when their suspensions begin for today's dismissals.</p>

The trouble began when Barnard was given the red card for tripping Michael Owen as he ran through onto a Steve McManaman through ball just after half time.</p>

Twelve minutes later Morgan was also given his marching orders after tussling with Owen who collapsed clutching his face and after Willard produced the red card it took several minutes to restore order following one fan's attempt to manhandle the official.</p>

He ran 35 yards before being intercepted by various Barnsley players and a steward promptly took Willard off the pitch for five minutes for his own safety.</p>

The controversial event followed a pulsating first half with Barnsley taking a 37th minute lead to captain Neil Redfearn only for Karlheinz Riedle to equalise from close range just before the interval.</p>

Riedle took advantage of Barnsley being a man short by firing a 30-yard drive straight into the top corner on the hour and once Morgan also got his marching orders, Liverpool's victory seemed assured.</p>

But the imaginative substitution of Georgi Hristov replacing Clint Marcelle almost snatched an unlikely draw for Barnsley.</p>

Hristov, who twice went close within minutes of coming on, closed down Phil Babb with five minutes remaining who fell over inside the box and appeared to handle the ball.</p>

Referee Willard waved away appeals for a penalty but Hristov, attempting to reach the by-line, was then tripped by Babb and Willard had no option but to point to the penalty spot.</p>

Redfearn coolly sent goalkeeper Brad Friedel the wrong way to equalise before further controversy erupted in the final moment.</p>

Liverpool were awarded a free kick on the left hand side of the box and McManaman broke free to slip the ball past David Watson for the winger.</p>

More trouble between the players followed with Sheridan sent off for arguing his point with Willard before the restart.</p>

It prompted further pitch invasions and Ince rugby tackled one fan while the police were forced to line the touchline to deter any further trouble.</p>

Several fans were also removed from the stand behind the goal after trouble broke out and when Willard blew the final whistle he was escorted off by a number of stewards to prevent further confrontations with Barnsley's angry fans.</p>

</p>

Teams: </p>

Barnsley: Watson, Eaden, Appleby, Sheridan, Redfearn, Marcelle (Hristov 76), Bullock (Bosancic 54), Jones, Barnard, Morgan, Fjortoft (Liddell 73). </p>

Subs Not Used: Leese, McClare. </p>

Sent Off: Sheridan (90), Barnard (53), Morgan (65). </p>

Booked: Sheridan, Bosancic. </p>

Goals: Redfearn 37, 85 pen. </p>

Liverpool: Friedel, Jones, Babb, McManaman, Leonhardsen (Murphy 85), Redknapp, Harkness, Riedle, Ince, Owen, Matteo. </p>

Subs Not Used: James, Kvarme, Bjornebye, Carragher. </p>

Booked: Babb, Matteo. </p>

Goals: Riedle 44, 59, McManaman 90. </p>

Att: 18,684 </p>

Ref: G S Willard (Worthing). </p>

</p>

 

Sure does (wnkr) Willard

 

Yep, he's right up there with Mr. Riley and Mr. Rennie.</p>

(wnkr) </p>

 

Interesting...I haven't read a report since the game. I remember my dad saying to me though while we were there, that he saw Shez punch Ince and that's why he was shown the red, not for arguing with Willard. Either way... what a complete to55er Willard is, no doubt he cost us that game, and possibly our prem status.

 

Shez punched Ince...

...in retaliation for a punch on him.</p>

Wankard punished the retaliation and not the original offence.</p>

Then when the ball came over from the free kick Mcmenamenamenaminminmin wheeled away from the defender whose lower back he had been squeezing and punching, and poked the winner in.</p>

It's no wonder there was nearly a f*kin riot.</p>

I've hated the cheatin Scouse Barstewards ever since. I'm not even going to be drawn on the subject of Wankard.</p>

 

Is he refereeing tomorrow?

or is that just a random blood boiling story?

 

From Mark Hodkinson - The Times Saturday April 4 1998

Harshest Lessons in the Game of Life.

The prophecy is often uttered at football grounds. It is, of course, a euphemism. “There’s going to be a riot here,” they say, whenever the passion borders on hostility.

At Oakwell last Saturday the euphemism was a truism. Gary Willard, the referee in charge of Barnsley’s match against Liverpool, seemed to be a man tired of the banality of life, a man with an outlandish death wish.

In a game with nothing above the normal level of irascibility, he sent off three Barnsley players. If the reason for the dismissals was vague, there was nothing unequivocal about the actual procedure of sending them from the field. The cards were held up defiantly, victoriously almost, as if he was holding aloft a flag: a unique flag representing a nation of one. The body language was all wrong. There was no “sorry, son, had to do it”, apologetic smile, or shrug of the shoulders. It was showy, bloody-minded sternness, more of a “get off my pitch you insolent fool”.

Willard chose precisely the wrong place to stage his three-card trick. Barnsley does not suffer fools and it has a historical mistrust of authority. While, like most clubs, Barnsley has undergone what sociologists call “embourgoisement” – you know, serviettes supplied with the pies, toilets that flush, fans that applaud David Seaman because he is the England goalkeeper, etc. – there remains a mass of support based on fierce parochialism.

They are ex-miners, and sons of ex-miners, once the aristocracy of the working class, now left with too much time on their hands to ponder Barnsley’s next match. Back in the 1970’s they saw through the smoke and mirrors and detected that the National Coal Board has a secret agenda. They were patronised, told that too much time underground had made them over-fond of baseless conspiracy theories. In the 1980’s the pits duly closed and their frustration was played out against lines of policemen.

The resentment, institutionalised now, still exists in Barnsley. The football club has become a focus for regional pride and naked passion: a two-fingered wave back to a country that they believe has consigned them to afternoon television and twice-weekly trips to the job club.

Their nemesis arrived last weekend in the shape of a divorced father-of-two civil servant with a Saturday job as a football referee. There are “honest” fouls in football – a clip of the heel, a shift of weight to slow up an opponents run – and there are dishonest ones, too. Willard permitted the cynical, the puerile and the snide but gleefully punished the trivial. After this injustice had been reinforced beyond the point of tolerance, ill-feeling spread through Oakwell like a malignant Mexican wave. The tension was more sinister and ugly than portrayed throughout this week. The death of a Fulham supporter and the various outbreaks of sports related violence provided a cover for Barnsley.

Willard was attacked from all angles and the game was eclipsed by another sick sport as police, stewards and players intercepted various beer-bellies on legs hurtling towards a seemingly impervious figure. Make no mistake, their plan was to do him serious harm and, without overplaying the drama, for a good while it looked as if the mob held the upper hand and we were to see Willard set upon.

The bravery of the players, Fjortoft, Ince and Redfearn in particular, was commendable. The Barnsley supporters who applauded the pitch invaders, however, deserve nothing but contempt. In the streets around Oakwell they screamed into television cameras that their club was being persecuted: Willard was a vindictive agent of the FA Carling Premiership that wanted to relegate Barnsley and maintain its closed shop of big-city clubs.

Their anger is understandable, even if their argument is specious. Barnsley have been good business for the Premier League. Their stirring battles with football’s elite have made absorbing theatre. The fight against relegation has been a Rocky film transmuted to football; at one point they are flailing and helpless, then a string of wins, a spring in their step and hope is renewed. Also, the Premier League would not be so gauche as to send Willard, as the angel of death; it would, if it was driven by malevolence, draw the breath from the club surreptitiously without recourse to melodrama.

The combination of an abysmal; refereeing display and a tempestuous Oakwell crowd was pretty much unique and should be viewed as such. A return to perimeter fences, a deduction of points or an hefty fine is an arbitrary punishment, hurting the majority for the few. Barnsley is what Barnsley is. If the goading is relentless and considered unfair, it will retaliate. The club can bring Premiership football to the town but it cannot instantly bring a saintliness and civility to that part of its community that seeks out martyrdom.

This is not to condone or canvass a metaphorical shrug of the shoulders, but a simple fact. All those that have this week lamented and squealed surprise that thuggery still exists within football are foolish. Hate, compassion and love are part of the human condition and sport is merely a reflection of life.

Our best hope is that the balance falls most frequently on the side of compassion and love, and violent afternoons at Oakwell are rare; very rare.


The Times Saturday April 4 1998

 

Condescending tw@t! nt

 

Re: guranteed to make your blood boil nt

 

Not at all - an absolutely spot on piece of observation nt

 

Nowt really wrong with what he said ES

Apart from the miner *****.</p>

I'll tell thi what though, that was the best day at amatch I think I've had when we've lost.</p>

Funny as fook.</p>

And to top it all off the Hristov dive for the pen was poetry in motion.</p>

 

Eee, me flat cap is itching me head.

Patronising doesn't even cover it.

 

My whippit ran away this morning

carring my flat cap in it's mouth and you think you've got it bad.

But seriously it sounds like he's writing about Barnsley fifty years ago not eight.

Patronising git.

 

RE: My whippit ran away this morning

I'm just going to use my flushing toilet!