Yesterday was without a doubt the most nervous and tense 97 minutes of my life. Was it a job interview? No it was the 2009 Champions League semi final between Chelsea and Barcelona. Following the 1-1 draw that saw Barcelona go through on away goals I slumped to my chair with my head in my hands. The eerie silence was broken by a woman who said “Cheer up mate it’s just a game”. Oh how wrong she is.
To those who have no interest in football indeed it is just a game, twenty-two men running around a pitch trying to kick a ball in net. But to some, to those like me and the thousands of other devastated Chelsea supporters it is a way of life. Were not the violent type who look to hit someone if our team loses. We are the passionate followers, the people who will sit through sunshine, snow, rain and howling winds cheering our team on, we are the ones who remember the bad times as well as the good. We are the blue blood that flows through the veins of this very club.
If we loose, we loose and we supporters take it on the chin and brave a smile. Yet the injustice in which we lost the game yesterday was a travesty. Now I have seen a fair share of luck go our way in the past, I’ve also seen bad luck hit us. Only in the final last year when John Terry slipped in the cold Moscow rain making us inches away from winning our first ever European Champions League, that night as like yesterday I was devastated but I knew that last year it was meant to be. But yesterday was a different story.
Now I am not defending the actions of our players at the end of the game, adrenalin runs rife through the veins of any competitive player and after last years final some of the behaviour was over the top. But the blame MUST lie with the performance of the referee, FOUR clear penalties and each one dismissed. It was quite simply the most unprofessional referee peformance I have ever witnessed in twenty five years of football. The man must be struck off immediately from refereeing another game, yet this is not “sour grapes” from a Chelsea fan, no this is the opinion of someone who loves watching a good game. Even the other semi final saw Darren Fletcher dismissed for a perfectly timed tackle meaning he will miss the final for Manchester United.
Now it maybe “Just a game” to the woman who tried to lift my spirits yesterday, it maybe just men playing football. But to me it’s life, it’s an escape, it’s a feeling of belonging with friends to a cause far higher than we can explain. Without Chelsea football club my life simply would not be the same and to have it ruined by an incompetent official just makes the hangover I feel this morning all the worse.
