The everyday blog of Richard Bartle.
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9:29am on Sunday, 12th May, 2013:
Comment
The FA Cup Final yesterday was pretty good. Wigan were the underdogs, but I used to support Manchester City when I was a kid so I didn't mind if they won, either. About 15 minutes in, though, I began to hope Wigan would win — they seemed to want it more. City were doing a good impersonation of an England squad: lots of individual stars but they lacked passion. The only one of them with any bite was Zabaleta, who let his passion get the better of him and was sent off for two yellow-card offences (another characteristic of England squads).
The refereeing was good. There were a couple of decisions that were only controversial if you scrutinised them from the right camera angle afterwards. Zabaleta did deserve his two yellow cards, and the other two City players who were booked deserved theirs, too; I didn't see the Wigan goalkeeper time-wasting, but can believe that...
So, it was a major sporting occasion, watched on TV by millions, well-refereed. How much was the referee paid?
Have a guess. What do you think the scale of fees for officials states is the amount to be paid to the referee for the final? Hint: it's the same as the assistant referees.
Well, the answer (according to the competition rules) is £375. They also get travelling expenses and a souvenir medal.
That seems a little ... low.
For comparison, the Manchester City captain, Vincent Kompany, is on a salary of £26,000 a day.
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Copyright © 2013 Richard Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk).