It’s often we criticise referees, it’s rare that we praise them.
But this is a time for praise. And Pol van Boekel deserves lots of it.
According to the rules, the Dutchman could have booked Mohammed Kudus when the Ghanaian took off his shirt in celebration of his goal against Sparta Rotterdam on Sunday night.
But Kudus did so in good faith. He did so to reveal a t-shirt that read ‘RIP Atsu’ as a tribute to his fellow countryman Christian Atsu, who’s body was tragically discovered buried in the rubble caused by the recent 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria.
This was a case of a referee reading the room.
Teams and players all over the world paid tribute to Atsu, the 31-year-old winger who previously played for Porto, Chelsea and Newcastle. Many of them wore black arm-bands in his memory.
Kudus is a fellow Ghanaian, a fellow winger, and his tribute was so powerful because of all of those factors. Kudus thanked van Boekel after the game and said that the referee understood that this was ‘beyond football.’
“This is about life and death,” he added.
“The referee told me it’s not allowed (shirt removal) but he understands because this is a bigger situation than football.
“A big respect from me to the referee.”
Kudus Mohammed explains why he escaped a booking after dedicating his goal to Christian Atsu pic.twitter.com/tPKKq5LEZz
— Andohghnews (@leslyghnew) February 20, 2023
