No Place like Home: Loud Announcers, Concrete Tossing Fans, Kill the Ref

By: Bob | September 11th, 2006

It was an action packed weekend on and off the pitch as coaches complained, players got smacked and referees were threatened.

We begin in London where Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has asked that his club’s brand spanking new stadium be a bit more like a library. Wenger is upset with the stadium announcer for, well, announcing things too much.

“I was very annoyed about the constant announcements,” said Wenger. “I think he has to respect people and not talk too much. We are not on the radio here. There are people who want to watch a football game without a debate going on.

“It’s really disturbing. I don’t know if it puts the players off but for people watching it’s disturbing.

“You wonder why there’s one guy reading a book up there on his own and nobody is interested in what he says.”

Yep, the announcer. That explains why Arsenal is off to such a shite start this season.

Next we head to Bolivia where the game between Bolivar and San Jose was delayed by twenty minutes because of a common problem these days: a player getting hit on the head by a piece of concrete thrown from the stands.

Bolivar defender Carmelo Angulo was on the losing side of the concrete toss. After receiving treatment, he amazingly continued to play, proving that his head is, indeed, full of concrete.

Finally, the match between Boca Juniors and Gimnasia La Plata in Argentina was suspended at halftime because the referee was threatened by club officials from Gimnasia. Police were called in to stand in front of the referee’s changing room.

“The referee said he suspended the game because he received threats from the president of Gimnasia and a group of people,” Boca Juniors vice-president Pedro Pompilio said.

Gimnasia’s president denies the claims and there is no truth to the rumor that next match he is going to borrow Arsenal’s announcer to incite the crowd to throw concrete at the referees.