Not so with Belize?s FFB. I was deeply dismayed on approaching the MCC entrance gate to meet a former national league MVP and All Belize star midfielder going the other way, unable or unwilling to meet the charge, and remonstrating on the Association?s lack of appreciation for former stars.

I should have noted the signs earlier. On Wednesday afternoon, when our U-21 national team was in Panama preparing for their match that night, I drove past the MCC and was surprised to see BPFL (Belize Premier Football League) official Ruperto Vicente standing near the gate. It was he who had relayed on Love FM the terribly one-sided officiating our team was subjected to during their last match in Salvador. Obviously touched emotionally, Vicente had even suggested that our young men need to receive psychological counseling to prepare them for the kind of mental torture they were receiving at the hands of officials and fans on the foreign turf. I would have felt better if Ruperto was also in Panama for our match there. As a former FIFA referee, his opinion carries more weight than that of the average fan.

My son was with me on Sunday, and on the way to the MCC he was asking about the role of linesmen. Can they stop a match and tell the referee what to do about a play? This one was easy. Absolutely not! If there is one line that sticks in my mind from all the football rules I?ve seen, it is that ?the referee is the sole arbiter of the match?. He is the boss on the field. The linesmen help him by waving their flags when they think an infraction has occurred ? ball going out of touch, player offside, fouls, etc. But the referee decides if he will blow his whistle or not. I have known referees to instruct their linesmen before a match to flag offsides and balls going out of touch only – ?leave the fouls to me?.

Between the referee and the two linesmen, the game has enough eyes to cover most infractions, but not all. In every game some players get away with some infractions. The referee is human. That is the nature of football. In American football they stop the game and look at video replays. Not so in real football. Football is life. It goes forward. Mark the mistakes up to experience. You can?t protest against a referee?s judgement. Only if the laws of the game are breached.

(Somebody needs to educate me on the role and responsibility of a match commissioner and the 4thor alternate official.

I have witnessed matches where the officiating was so atrocious that both teams, winner and loser, were raising hell about the referee at the end of the match. The match commissioner?s position then was that it was not his business to intervene; only to observe the match and make a report on the performance of the officials.

And the 4thofficial? To my understanding, where the play on the field is concerned, he has no say, just like any fan. He is only to keep injury time for the referee, and keep records of players entering and leaving the match. His main task is to be ready, if needed, to substitute for one of the linesmen. It is not his business to be calling infractions, otherwise he would also be given a flag. But I am not an authority on this matter.)

Well, it?s game time, and our Belizean fans are ecstatic. Flags waving, singing our anthem, and cheering our team wildly as they trot onto the field. Our boys look hyped. I brought along a little radio, and the KREM announcer is saying that in the locker room before coming out, our whole team was singing a song to a punta rhythm. We?re ready.

I like the line-up. It?s attack. We?re at home. Marlon Mesa and Deon McCaulay are up front on the wings and the tall Lennox ?Criminal? Castillo (normally a winger) is at center forward, matching up against the giant Panamanian central defender. This will be really interesting. Very few big men are as quick or as agile as ?Criminal?.

The game is under way and we?re feeling out each other; ?even steven?. ?Criminal? leaves his center forward position and chases after an outlet pass near the western sideline, challenging the Panamanian midfielder for the ball near the center line flag where the KREM broadcast booth is located. The players tangle, and it looks to me, from where I stand behind the wire fence across on the eastern midfield line, like the Panamanian player pulls ?Criminal? to the ground, where they both tussle briefly. ?Criminal? gets up and play continues. But wait. The Panamanian stays on the ground and is holding his head and writhing around as if in tremendous pain. What happened to him? I didn?t see anything major in their little tangle.

The ball is way up in Belize?s defensive area when the referee finally blows his whistle to suspend play. It seems he is being called to the central sideline flagpost, a short distance from the Panamanian player, who remains on the ground still holding his head. It is not the linesman who is talking to the referee, but the 4thor alternate official.

The referee is raising a red card. Good Lord, the referee is red-carding ?Criminal? Castillo out of the match! This is unbelievable. The crowd is in shock. Then everybody starts railing up and trying to understand what the hell is going on. But play has resumed, and, like we were in Panama, our boys are a man down, only now it is practically from the start of the match. More than that, our tallest striker, who no doubt would be vital to match-up against the big Panamanian defenders, is gone to the locker room.

The goal that Panama scores to win the match occurs early in the second half while Belize?s defensive stopper is sidelined with a fractured hand, being taped and waiting to get back on the field. So, in fact, there were nine Belize players on the field when the goal was scored.

How do I end this lesson? Yes, son, the referee is the sole arbiter of the match. He doesn?t have to believe anything his linesmen tell him, but he trusts their judgement from their vantage point on some plays. And if a Belizean alternate official feels duty bound to come forward and intervene to tell the referee of a capital offence committed by his own countryman player, what referee would doubt him?

But there are two questions I would like the FFB/FIFA officials to clarify for me. Was the match commissioner in order to direct the 4thofficial to take action as has been reported, or did he violate his FIFA mandate in so doing? And was the 4thofficial required, indeed was he authorized according to FIFA rules, to step forward and interrupt play in order to volunteer his observation to the referee on a play that clearly did not occur behind the referee?s or his linesman?s back?

If the match commissioner was out of order, then he may be guilty of allowing his personal bias to spoil a good game and sully the good name of FIFA.

And if the 4thofficial acted inappropriately, he was nevertheless acting under the directive of FIFA?s highest official representative at the match. Unfortunately for many thousands of us Belizean fans, this was still a football game, and FIFA is the world governing body of football.

Charles X