More on Her and Football

“That’s simply unfair, isn’t it?”
We were snuggling in front of the TV watching an Indonesian League football match, something, I imagine, most newlyweds do on weekends when they have nothing to do, no place to go, or simply exhausted after a marathon of ‘playing bump-bump’. Not that they all watch Indonesian League matches. There were also gossip shows who questions the morals of our celebrities which leads to us questioning ours because we enjoy the gossips so much, reality shows where renegade lovers get caught knee deep in debauchery, and oh, yes, the sinetrons that are watchable only when you are stone-drunk.

“What is unfair, hon?”
Yes, I have taken to ‘honey’ her. Much to her amusement and my brothers’ prolonged hysterical laughter when they accidentally found out. Anyway, without taking her eyes off the match, ‘honey’ continued, “Well, the goalkeeper clearly went for the ball but the referee think of it as a foul.”

I had talked her into watching this match and, knowing the question-everything person that she is, had seen this coming, so I said,” Yes. But the problem is he didn’t get the ball, instead he floored the enemy striker, which is why the referee blew the whistle. Anyway, he’s lucky he’s still at the pitch. The goalkeeper was the last man, he should have been sent off.”

“That’s harsh.”
“Harsh?”
“He didn’t mean to tackle the striker.”
“Of course he didn’t mean to. Yet he did. Hence the foul.”

She turned around to face me with a combative look on her face.
“It is not in his intention to tackle that striker. He simply went for the ball. One should not be punished for what one never intended to do.”
“Look, honey, it’s not about the intention, it’s about what happened. For instance, when a railway crossing attendant fails to lower the bar in time thus the train hit an unsuspecting car, there’s a fat chance he will be punished. Of course he never intends anyone to get hurt, yet it happens, and consequently he will have to pay for it.”
“Stay with the picture, we’re talking about football.”
“I was giving you an analogy. Didn’t you get the point?”
“I don’t see any.”
“Well, the point is if you made a mistake, regardless of your intention, you get screwed.”
“But it’s not fair.”
“How is it not fair?”
“It’s just not”

Still with a proud face, she turned back to the match.
“What happened now?”, she asked.
“That player strayed into an off-side position.”
“What’s an off-side position?”
Oh, here we go again…