Like Ahlenfelder once: The referee makes fans doubt their sanity

Like Ahlenfelder once
Referee makes fans doubt their sanity

Referee Alan Young had a pitch-black day at the game between Leyton Orient and Hartlepool United. Something happens to him that shouldn’t happen to a referee. His decision leaves the audience confused, but the rules are correct.

When the 6,233 spectators on Brisbane Road returned to the stands for the second half of the game between Leyton Orient and Hartlepool United in the English fourth division, they were amazed. What had been mixed into their drinks. What they saw couldn’t be true. But it was. Both teams decided not to switch sides. They continued to play on the goals they had played on in the first half.

The hosts scored two goals, but nothing more had happened. The fourth official, a man named Samuel Ogles, signaled four minutes of stoppage time. But referee Alan Young whistled before. The players went into the dressing room, the fans under the stands. When they got ready for the second half, the world was just the same. And that upset her.

“I went up the stairs after the break, sat down in my seat and nothing had changed,” said one of the visitors to the game in an interview with ntv.de. “In my life I have never been so confused. It was very, very strange.” Very, very strange and also very, very inexplicable. What happened? The explanation is simple: Referee Alan Young had built an Ahlenfelder, but the other way around.

An Ahlenfelder, please

The legendary Bundesliga referee Wolf-Dieter Ahlenfelder, we all remember, headed the Werder Bremen game against Hannover 96 on November 8, 1975 and not only indulged in a goose to eat before the game, but the “fat thing” with alcohol fights. That had an impact on his sense of time. After only 32 minutes he whistled at halftime and only allowed himself to be changed by Bremen’s Horst-Dieter Höttges. Ahlenfelder had pointed out his “dust-dry” jersey. Ahlenfelder let the game continue and later said: “A beer and a Maltese for lunch, that will probably be allowed. We are men and don’t drink Fanta.”

Little is known about Young’s drink preferences and he didn’t blow the whistle too early, i.e. before the 45 minutes were up, but exactly after the 45 minutes were up. And that was the problem. He had forgotten about stoppage time. Simply that way. Whyever. It then occurred to him again and he let play the forgotten four minutes before the start of the second half.

“Just a bad day”

“This is a special case,” says Alex Feuerherdt from “Collina’s heirs”. “It cannot be found in the rules like this, but it was last answered in May 2019 in the referee newspaper of the DFB by Lutz Wagner. The change of sides will only take place after the remaining minutes of the first half. The referee team must agree of course to be improved. ”

So the game went on. Leyton’s Aaron Drinan cheered late into stoppage time, but referee Young refused to acknowledge the historic goal after the break whistle. Offside. The teams had to switch sides immediately and continue playing. Orient could not be stopped. Not in there either. He scored twice more. In the end, The O’s won 5-0 and were overjoyed. Different from the other participants in this game.

“I spoke to the referee after the game and he told me he had a bad day, but he wasn’t as bad as mine,” said Hartlepool coach Dave Challinor, whose team fell back into the middle of the table after the bankruptcy .

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