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Busy week for UFL referees as things turn ugly
The 10th week of the UAE Football League (UFL) was infamous, hot tempered and had the lowest-scoring average in the competition so far.
- By Yasir Abbasher, Senior Reporter
- Published: 22:40 December 20, 2008
Abu Dhabi: The 10th week of the UAE Football League (UFL) was infamous, hot tempered and had the lowest-scoring average in the competition so far.
The 6 matches of the week actually mark the end of the first round, one week before its real end, as the league will stop for more than a month to allow the senior national team to prepare and take part in the 19th Gulf Cup and the qualifiers of the 2011 Asian Cup before resuming again on February 6 for the 11th week.
The matches witnessed only 14 goals - an average of 2.34 goals per match which is the lowest average since the kick off of the new professional competition last September, for the first time ever in the country.
The 9th week of the UFL witnessed the scoring of no less than 21 goals and it was not the highest scoring week.
But the dark side of the competition was not the small number of goals scored but the high number of yellow and red cards which the players collected in the most bad tempered week the competition has witnessed yet
The officials of the matches distributed a total of 36 yellow and 6 red cards, with an average of 6 yellows and one red per match.
Such an extremely high rate shows how the competition from top to bottom has seen teams doing everything necessary, legal or illegal, to win the points.
It is becoming clear that only three teams, namely Al Jazira, Al Ahli and Al Ain, are contending for the title. Ajman sit the middle safe zone but the rest of the pack may be threatened with relegation.
There are only six points between the 5th place and the bottom position.
The match between defending champions Al Shabab and UFL leaders Al Jazira set a new record for poor behavior as the referee Mohammad Abdul Karim was forced to produce his yellow card 14 times and his red twice.
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