NO YELLOW FEVER A GOOD CAUSE FOR CHEER

There have been no red cards being bandied about where the only suspension thus far in the competition has been on Australian captain Hannah Brewer, who sat out her team’s impressive 6-1 demolition of hosts Myanmar A in the semi-finals.

Comparatively, at the AFF U19 Championship in August in Ho Chi Minh City, 40 yellow cards and 9 red cards were flashed from the same number of 12 preliminary round matches.

Perhaps, the fact that it is a women’s championship and that the competition is being held for the first time for girls under the age of 16-years-old, there has been a certain sense of trepidation and restrain for teams taking part at the start of the meet.

For the most part, many do not know what to expect from their opponents hence the need for caution.

And while the first match of the tournament when Myanmar A whitewashed Malaysia 15-0 was devoid of any real offence, the first yellow card of the tournament was given out by Myanmar referee Thein Thein Aye to Indonesia’s Rani Mulyasari in the second match of the day.

The second yellow card of the meet also went to Indonesia through Paskalina Mampione.

Both cards were flashed in the last ten minutes of play which by then saw the Thais already up by a whopping fifteen goals.

But while there were no red cards being given out yet, there have been however a few trips to the hospitals for some of the players.

This is due not because of sustained physical exchanges but rather for some of the players; they seem to have problems breaking their falls each time they get entangled in a collision with the opponents.

These awkward landings saw two Philippines players – Christina Vergara and Natalie Nicse – being stretchered straight to the hospitals.

In the semi-finals, Thai midfielder Sriwan Onamul suffered a torn hamstring while for Samantha Kerr, her knee has been heavily bandaged and where she left the competition venue of the Thuwunna Youth Training Centre on crutches.

In all, the competitive spirit of the players have not shown any sign of waning and while the all-women referees have managed to control temper and intensifying ego all in check, it has positively contributed to an incident free competition.

There will always be critics and no men – or women – in black in all of the world are ever free of disparagement.

And just as the tournament a good training ground for the young players taking part, it is also a good opportunity for the women referees to gain experience in international match temperament.

The important thing is that they must take to the lessons which have been learned.

FIXTURES

Oct 18

Third/Fourth placing (3.30pm): Vietnam vs Myanmar A

Final (6pm): Thailand vs Australia