QUESTION of the week: who would be a referee?
One is fired after a naughty word about Jurgen Klopp.
At least another in Turkey got justice after being punched in the face by a club president.
We can quickly dispense with referee David Coote's angry outburst against the former Liverpool manager.
His addition of 'German' to part of a woman's anatomy has not gone down well with the FA, who have ordered an investigation.
Coote failed to prevent the publication of a private video that included his comments and this particular coot was out of the bag and flying at Klopp.
It wasn't really an insult, you heard it all the time on the field and in the stands – without the “German” bit.
No doubt even the full curse was heard by Klopp himself.
Still, with the subsequent other videos that have surfaced in this newspaper to supplement the first, you can expect Coote's dismissal to be confirmed.
If you need something more painful, try MKE Ankaragucu President Faruk Koca's right hand, which broke Halil Umut Meler's eye socket.
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Koca was furious after Ankaragucu conceded an equalizer to ten-man Caykur in the 97th minute of a match in December 2023.
Who blew the final whistle – if ever – has been lost in translation.
As Meler fell to the ground, other men began kicking him.
He was taken to hospital for emergency surgery, while politicians and football nobility queued up to say how horrible the incident was.
That incident led to football in the Turkish Super Lig being suspended for a week.
But last week, the self-styled sage of world football, Jose Mourinho, suggesting that officiating in the country's top flight “smells bad”.
Mourinho – Fenerbahce boss since June – wondered why fans from other countries would watch the match there.
The former Chelsea manager has complained about referees wherever he has coached.
But his views are strongly supported, even if many people in football see his criticism as an application for a job elsewhere.
However, Meler has a good reputation as a top referee for FIFA and UEFA and was a referee for West Ham in the Conference League last season.
Meler recalled: “Faruk Koca hit me under my left eye.
“I fell. While I was on the ground, other people kicked me many times in the face and other parts of my body.”
Koca was sentenced this week to 3½ years in prison.
But he has yet to begin that term pending an appeal, with Ankaragucu Chairman Ismail Mert Firat claiming “no shameful crime” was committed.
There is no football country in the world without conflict between fans and referees – and Turkey is not the only country with angry club officials.
In Brazil last year, a fourth division president punched a referee and was given a 30-day ban.
In DR Congo, a referee was chased off the field by female players and supporters for failing to award a penalty. Women! I thought better of us.
Verbal attacks and match violence around the world.
In Spain, violations number in the hundreds. In Great Britain too.
Ivan Savvidis, the gun-toting owner of Thessaloniki, Greece, and his bodyguards marched onto the pitch after the referee disallowed a goal at the last minute during a match with AEK Athens in 2018.
And in the United States in 2015, a player was jailed for a minimum of eight years after punching a referee, who died two days later.
The world seems to be suffering from a social disease and at the center of it is the poor old ref.
By comparison, Coote's language is hot air in a thunderstorm of shameful behavior.
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