Sunday, June 19, 2005

Goodbye to a referee

Today I went to watch FC Copenhagen in their last game of the season, against Herfølge Boldklub. The match ended 1-1, and was exactly as boring as it sounds: Herfølge had already been relegated, while FC Copenhagen's players seemed to have gone on an early vacation.
The game was also a farewell to two of FC Copenhagen's most popular players, the South African Sibusiso Zuma and Todi Johnson from the Faroe Islands. However, the game was also a farewell to a much more interesting football character: linesman Mr. Jens Larsen.
Mr. Larsen has for many years entertained and frustrated countless Danish football fans with his awkward interpretation of the off side rule. Mr. Larsen became renowned in the 2002 World Cup, where he kept waving for nonexistent off-sides against a frustrated Italian side. On Danish TV, the commentators could not understand how a linesman from such a "great" league as the Danish one, could commit such mistakes.
The off-side rule is bound to become more predictable next season in Danish football.

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