Nicky Siebert.

Fotball players that misbehave under the influence of alcohol are nothing new. The examples are numerous and a while ago we made a list of the greatest drinkers in this sport. However the referees in this sport seem a little boring compared to their colleagues in the field. Especially in Holland referees are often criticized for their ‘lack of character’. Well, there’s one linesman who apparently knows pretty well how to party.

It was the 23rd of August 2013. The match for the Europa League between the Romanian side FC Vaslui and Internazionale Milan from Italy was led by the Dutch referee Bas Nijhuis. Part of his team were his countrymen Danny Makkelie (fourth official) and the linesmen Patrick Langkamp and Nicky Siebert. Now the match itself was not that interesting and ended in a 0-2 win for Internazionale. But the real firework was after the match.

As usual the team of referees went to diner together and discovered the better side of Romania. Alcohol was consumed in large amount until the point where linesman Siebert (who became a national celebrity in 2006 after Ajax-player Kenneth Perez called him a kankernerger, which letterly means ‘cancer nigger’, on the pitch) went on a drunken rampage. While he was chasing Nijhuis and Makkelie (himself an ex-cop) he emptied a fire extinguisher in the hotel corridor.

Just good old fashioned drunken fun? Well the European football association UEFA surely didn’t think so. Since this incident Siebert is banned from the international scene. He himself claimed that this inactivity was because of his job, but today the newspaper De Telegraaf revealed the truth. The national football association of Holland (KNVB) also punished Siebert, although quite late. Since the winter break the linesman has been set back to the second division. A very bad call we think. Finally we found a referee who is not a complete dork and than he’s being removed from the scene. We hope both the UEFA and the KNVB will soon realize their mistake, so that Siebert can continue his awesome behavior on international trips.

Micky Bumbar