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Referees are human as well and he was treated so badly that he used some humor to get over some harsh critics.
I was reading an article about a Premiership referee who had his world turned upside down for having a sense of humor. He was basically fired for what he joked about and I think that this is harsh and just not right.
He was being ridiculed as a headline in a national news paper being called Blobby Bobby. His name is Bobby Madley and the article suggested that he had been making mistakes due to being overweight. If that was the case the referee association would have made sure he reached the certain fitness requirements so that wouldn't be the case. Referees are fit as they stay up with play for 90 minutes and players don't. A player has his role and normally sticks in a set zone whereas a ref runs the entire pitch. A player could run 10-15 km over the course of a match and I can assure you the ref runs more.
We have to put his joke into context to understand why he was so harshly punished. He was participating in the annual parents race at his child's sports day. With all the stories about him going on he joked that he may not even finish the race. He saw someone walk past him with a impairment and videoed that person and loaded it onto "snap chat" and sent it to his mate. He joked saying "Fu.k me I have a chance of winning the parents race this year.
His "friend" obviously found this funny and shared it with others which was wrong and that is how the story broke. I get it that he is in the public eye but he never deserved to be treated like a criminal and find his punishment unjustified. We are talking about his career and don't find having a sense of humor something career ending.
The Politically Correct society do far worse and just find what this guy did to be just normal playing around with mates. We have all done and said things that could be taken in bad taste but if the people don't know you they can't judge who you are. I say plenty of shit that leaves people shocked, but then they don't know me either as I am a playful character but don't mean any harm from my actions.
Surely an apology for any offence made should have been sufficient if it was required and move on as we are not kids. Everyone seems to have to watch everything they say no matter who they are talking to these days which is not natural and healthy. Whoever raised the issue and suspended him need to be put in the spot light as I would call their judgement questionable at best. These types should be in no position of power as they have just proven they don't deserve it and can't be trusted.