Let the Games Begin…

I am sorry for the delay in updating my blog, I’d like to say that it’s because I have been busy, but it is probably fairer to say that I have just been lazy. Before I get started though, I must tell you about this weird phenomenon that happens to me whenever I travel for soccer. For some reason, and it happens every time, after about 3 days, I am unable to form a complete sentence when I talk. I spend so much time speaking broken English and trying to use the simplest words to explain things, that I completely lose my ability to form a sentence or even use “normal” vocabulary. I find myself speaking with only nouns or verbs. For example, I will often say…you like? Or …is good? Or….is problem, no? Even when I speak to someone who can understand English, or fellow Canadians, I speak in this broken English. I find myself using these words that I never use in my everyday life, but they are understood by people with limited English, so I use them. I’m sure it is actually quite funny to listen to, although it becomes very frustrating for anyone that I speak to back home, because they feel like I talk to them as though they are stupid….so funny! So….if I begin to use bizarre words, or fragmented sentences, please don’t be offended…I know you are not stupid!

Ok then, since we have that cleared up, I will recap the beginning of the tournament. The tournament started on Tues June 30th. We received our appointments on Monday afternoon and I found out that I would referee the game between Korea and Germany. This was a good match for me because I refereed each of those teams twice in New Zealand, so I am familiar with their style of play. My game was at 5:30pm in a stadium called Vozdovaz which was only about 20 km away. I was suppose to leave the hotel at 3:20pm to arrive at the stadium at 4pm. Well….the traffic was so bad that it took us almost an hour and a half to arrive at the stadium. We actually left a bit early, which was good, because we needed all the time we could get! The traffic in this city is crazy! I consider myself a pretty good driver, I know, all women say this, and all men roll their eyes, but honestly, I am a good driver! You could not pay me enough to drive in Belgrade. I can’t believe that there aren’t more accidents, seriously. People are so aggressive and angry. I feel like I am taking my life in my hands every time I get in a car.

Anyways, we arrived at the stadium at 4:30pm, and from there it is chaos. Although, I am learning that in this country, chaos is normal, and yelling is talking. We arrived and people are running around and asking questions, which, of course, are in Serbian, so I just smile. My 4th official and my assistants are both Serbian so they help out, and take care of everything for me…it was great. In terms of weather, I have been really lucky as it has been raining off and on for the past 3 days, so it is a bit cooler than normal. The game itself is good. Korea scored the 1st goal in the 27th min off a free kick. The game stays 1-0 for the rest of the 1st half, and until about the 76th min of the second half when Korea scores a second goal. This seemed to knock the wind out the German team as they allow 2 more goals in the next 10 mins to lose 4-0 to Korea. There were no problems in the match, only 1 caution to each team. I’m not sure what the “delegate” thought of my game. I think it was OK because he smiled and said “good”, but this is all. Maybe he means “good, that is over”…heheh…who knows!

After the game we have to wait an hour for the delegate to fill in the game sheet and type it into the computer. This took forever…it was so painful. There were all these questions and he didn’t know how to answer them because they were in English and the girl who was helping him didn’t know anything about soccer. I was so hungry, seriously, I was about to walk back to the hotel, but I knew that all I would have waiting for me was fish and fries, our typically nightly meal. No need to rush for that! Finally we left the stadium and headed back…but of course, on our way home our driver got lost and had to turn around 3 times. Good thing he is driving the VIPs!

Overall I felt pretty good about my game. Although the level of soccer was not very high, the style was very predictable, which made the game easy to read. The players were there to play, and it was only for me, to call what I needed to…it was good.

The following morning we had a “meeting”. I hesitate to call it a meeting because we literally sat in the room for 5 mins, the head of the Serbian Appointments Committee asked if there were any problems, we said “no”, and then we were finished! Strangest meeting I have ever had! After the meeting the appointments were posted for Game Day 2. I am appointed to be the 4th official between Japan and France. The referee is Daniela, who was my 4th official I am looking forward to this game as it is a chance to watch another official and the game itself should be very interesting.

We are attending the opening ceremonies tonight. I am just excited to be out of the hotel and do something different. So far, all I have done is go for coffee…I swear, these people go for coffee 4 or 5 times a day. I hate coffee.