Match 11 - Raleigh Park vs Faraday (Loughborough)

Today, it was another of those days which you look out for in the intra-mural calendar - the IMS Varsity. Once again, Loughborough's finest intra-mural teams played Nottingham's, and this year it was Nottingham's turn to host it. Nottingham don't have a very good record in these encounters - I refereed two years ago when both Nottingham teams lost on their home ground, and last year I went down to Loughborough to run the line for both games, and again Loughborough completed a clean sweep in the football. This year, it was Cripps Old Boys and Raleigh Park freshers who were Nottingham's representatives. The Cripps game was refereed by the SU's Education Officer, Craig Cox, who is a Level 4 referee, leaving me to do Raleigh Park's encounter against Faraday from Loughborough.

The first half was far from my greatest half of football. Raleigh took an early lead 3 minutes in, but the game was quite physical and I sensed I wasn't totally on top of it. As always, I wanted to try and give the game some flow, but the tackles were coming in rather at times and I probably wasn't judging them correctly. That said, it never looked like spiralling out of control, so I did enough. The first half was a half of few chances too; neither team could really create many clearcut opportunities. I was perhaps penalising some soft fouls while missing some more obvious ones, but I was relieved to get through to half-time with no cards and no major hassle.

In the second half, things seemed to settle down rather more. Immediately, I got into my rhythm and the players seemed far more accepting of what I was giving. In the 54th minute, I gave one of the easiest penalty decisions I'll ever have to give - I was looking straight at play as a Raleigh defender inexplicably stuck up his hand and palmed the ball away. Why he did it I don't know, but the appeal was loud and I instantly pointed to the spot. With the penalty being scored (just!) Faraday were back on level terms.

They then proceeded to dominate most of the rest of the half, and once again Loughborough's sporting prowess showed through. They had much the better of play, with some very good chances, notably at set pieces. I turned down a penalty appeal soon after as the ball was crossed in and two players collided - I couldn't really see who instigated the contact so it was best just to let play go on. However, they added further goals in the 72nd and 77th minutes, and I think Raleigh had rather run out of steam by then. Raleigh contended that I was giving Faraday all the decisions - I was simply calling it as I saw it. The decisions were mostly only corners and throw-ins anyway, so nothing major, and the only real big decision I gave was the penalty, which was clear as day. The contest was all but over, and Faraday won 3-1.

Overall, not my greatest game ever, particularly in the first half, but I got through it and got the big decisions right. Once again, Loughborough completed a clean sweep in the football as Cripps Old Boys also lost out, this time 3-0. It is always a tough ask for the Nottingham teams, and I thought Raleigh equitted themselves pretty well, but in the end Loughborough had the class to overcome them. Thats the end of football for the term now - whether there will be any other games left for me to handle after Easter remains to be seen.