View from a Rhino House: giving your all for the team

Kazakhstan’ soccer champions, Shakhtar Karagandy, have been warned that they will face disciplinary action if they sacrifice any more sheep before European games, UEFA said yesterday.

“The UEFA Competition department has written to FC Shakhter Karagandy to inform them that animal sacrifices are not acceptable in or around our competitions & that the club will face sanctions if it happens again,” said UEFA.

Animal rights group PETA last week called on UEFA to ban the ritual slaughter of animals after reports that Shakhter had killed a sheep before their Champions League playoff tie at home to Celtic (they won 2-0, it’s hard to argue with success).

“We’re very grateful for UEFA’s swift & firm action condemning such cruel & archaic practices”, said PETA’s Mimi Bekhechi.

“UEFA has sent a clear message that there is absolutely nothing sporting about violence towards animals.”

Shakhter were facing Celtic in Glasgow in their return match later last night for a place in the group stage of Europe’s lucrative top tier club competition (they lost 3-0, maybe the substitute sacrifice of the goal keeper wasn’t such a smart move, but at least it kept PETA happy).

Don’t look at me, I’m a baseball fan….

View from a Rhino House: “it’s a game of 2 halves….”

In soccer match officials often face abuse from angry fans & players, & on rare occasions the attacks can turn violent.

Rarely are the roles reversed, yet Chechen linesman Musa Kadyrov seriously damaged his karma in a Russian fixture on Sunday when he attacked on one of the players.

The incident occurred at the end of a “friendly” Russian league reserve game in Grozny between Amkar Perm & local side Terek when linesman Kadyrov dropped his flag, ran onto the pitch, & attacked defender Ilya Krichmar.

“We weren’t happy with the officiating, ‘words’ had been exchanged but I had never said anything personal about him,” said Krichmar. “I know how sensitive Chechens can be.”

Former FIFA referee Alexei Spirin, who was working as an assessor at Sunday’s match, was left shocked by the episode.

“In all my refereeing career I have never seen anything like it. Kadyrov should not be a game official,” Spirin said.

“He clearly did not even know the rules, & then, even worse, he attacked a player. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give him a zero. I’m writing a special report on the incident & he should not be allowed to officiate again.”

Sunday’s incident was the latest in a series of violent attacks on players in Russian soccer.

Krasnodar striker Spartak Gogniyev suffered a broken nose & fractured ribs after being attacked by Terek officials (seems to be a local tradition) at another reserve game in Grozny in November 2011.

Former Montenegro striker Nikola Nikezic lodged a complaint with FIFA & UEFA in 2011 also, saying he had been forced to end his contract with Kuban Krasnodar after being beaten up & threatened with a gun.

Makes the South Americans look positively tame by comparison, & although soccer matches did start 2 wars there, at least the referees didn’t actually start beating the shit out of players from the opposing teams.

“Tell the ref we only bring out the tanks for 1st team games.”