The judge showed Sobolev a yellow shirt for a shirt with a dead mother. Fans destroy the referee, but he's right - Russian Championship 2020-2021 - Football

Sasha knew what he was doing.

In early August, the mother of Spartak striker Alexander Sobolev died – because of this tragedy, the club even postponed the long-awaited presentation of Kokorin. Sobolev was supported by absolutely everyone – from red and white fans to the former club, and Krylia was one of the first to sympathize.

The grief is really terrible, but Sasha pulled himself together and went to the first round match against Sochi. Alexander wanted so much to honor his mother’s memory as soon as possible that he thrust it in at the eighth minute. After that, he took off his playing shirt, showed a photo of his mother and burst into tears on the shoulder of Alex Kral. The emotional moment ended in an extremely cynical way – the judge Vasily Kazartsev showed Sobolev a yellow card.

Russian championship

Sobolev dedicated a goal against Sochi to his deceased mother. The referee gave the striker yellow for taking off his shirt

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The referee was immediately attacked from all sides. Former judge Fedotov (now a greedy blogger) called Kazartsev an animal. Former FIFA inspector Nathan Bartfeld emphasized that Sobolev could not have been warned – for such an omission, the referee would be reprimanded. Commentator Shmurnov admitted that he would not shake hands with Kazartsev. The writer Igor Rabiner remembered how in England they did not give a yellow card for a similar episode – and no one punished the judge. Fans of “Spartak” were simply indignant that Kazartsev was an insensitive brute.

The reasoning is clear: everyone knew that Sasha’s mother had died (there was even a banner at Otkrytie), so Vasily should have tactfully kept the card in his pocket.

Probably, Kazartsev could really score on the rules, grieve with Sasha and win well-deserved respect, but it is important to consider: referees have been trained for 16 years so that they show yellow for any removal of a T-shirt.

At first it looked strange, but then everyone got used to it. Yes, the T-shirt rule is still considered stupid and absurd, but the officials had reasons to introduce it. At the beginning of the 2000s, almost every second person performed performances with T-shirts – it really took the time. Plus there is a conspiracy theory that FIFA is worried about sponsors: it’s not very cool when the author of a goal rips off the jersey with the logos, and they don’t fit into a close-up.

Alexander Sobolev

Фото: Getty Images

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The story with T-shirts that are worn under the uniform is also very simple: there are no inscriptions or images that would justify a torn off a shirt. I took it off – I got a yellow one, that’s the whole algorithm. You can only cut down additional punishment if the message on the linen turns out to be political or offensive.

Therefore, the episode with Sobolev is pure mechanics, into which it is even strange to be distracted. Sasha knew perfectly well that he would be warned for a T-shirt, but the guy hardly cared. It was more important to say goodbye to my mother beautifully and touchingly, and the yellow card is real nonsense. She did not become the second in the match or the fourth in the season – it is unlikely that Alexander himself considers the referee a soulless robot.

Moreover, in addition to convenient examples when the yellow was not shown for T-shirts, there were also the opposite situations. For example, in the 2010 World Cup final, Iniesta scored, tore off his shirt and dedicated a goal to his deceased friend Dani Harke. Of course, he immediately saw a card in front of him.

Is this different? Oh yes, because almost no one knew about Andres’ sidekick, and instead of a photo there was an inscription on the T-shirt. But everything is very controversial: later it turned out that Iniesta suffered terribly because of the death of Jarquet – it even came to depression.

The sweet and sensitive Andres could have been spared, but the rule worked universally – and this is reasonable. For example, eight years ago, Jon Guidetti scored for Feyenord, got rid of the shirt and accidentally got a second yellow. Without the Swede, Rotterdam missed the victory, but Yon blamed himself, not the meticulous judge who did not regret him.

Morality is natural here. Kazartsev could have become a handsome man, but he acted like the most classic arbiter – he definitely cannot be called an animal and a scum. But he can be called a mediocrity, but not at all for Sobolev’s jersey, but for a super-strange penalty at the end of the match.

Still, Spartak fans should switch to constructive. Instead of looking for the social networks of Kazartsev and his family, and then offending the referee, it is wiser to support Sasha Sobolev and be glad that a cool and stable forward has appeared in the team.

He scores himself (not always counted), creates chances for others, fights in every game and really drags Spartak in attack. Therefore, it is better to spend time and energy on compliments for Alexander, and not on a meaningless hate of a person who will not judge at least until next year.