No, not going to deny that, or that the referreeing was crap. I just thought that Gael was being a bit harsh on a normally decent junior league ref, by over-egging a story he posted to demonstrate incompetence in U-21 refs in general. And bull's pizzle was quite the delicacy back in the day so I'm told.
I agree about the sometimes deplorable standard of reffing in the U-21 leagues, given that they are frequently junior league (down here at least) referees, but would suppose it does come down to funds. I don't know if they get paid less for officiating a U-21 game than League officials get, though I expect they do, but certainly the travel expenses are minimised or cut out completely by using local people, and with little or no cash return by way of sponsorship or gate receipts then that would be the overriding concern.
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