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Sports

Ref is Done With the B.S., Walks Off in the Middle of Bayer vs. Dortmund Match

The beginning of the referee revolution.

Refs are people too. When they're doing their job right, no one notices. When it's bad, everyone complains. So basically all they hear is complaints. And today, my friends, was the straw that broke the referee's tolerance for all of your bullshit.

In a match between Bayer Leverkeusen and Borussia Dortmund, referee Felix Zwayer decided to pass on awarding a penalty for felled Leverkeusen player Stefan Kiessling. Despite the whole situation looking pretty neutral—neither Kiessling nor his defender seemed particularly at fault—Leverkeusen stood around expecting a call. Consequently, Dortmund, being a team not filled with baby-men, decided to keep playing the game they are paid to play, and scored an easy goal at the other end of the field.

Needless to say, manager Roger Schmidt wasn't happy about it. But instead of, I dunno, shutting up his whiney little face and handling his business like a grown human being, Schmidt persisted in asking the referee why he didn't make the call. Zwayer attempted to send the man off the pitch, but Schmidt's mealy-mouthed, punchable face decided to challenge the decision for so long that Zwayer took a hike. Just plain walked off the field, down through the tunnel. Disappeared. He was sick of hearing it.

The game ultimately started back up, but not without a 15ish minute delay, which later resulted in 15 minutes of stoppage time, despite the fact that the clock stopped amidst the whole fiasco. We could be witnessing the beginning of a full-on referee revolution.