The fourth official alerts the referee and out comes the red card for Derlan. This incenses the player into a rage and he snaps.

Check out the video below where Derlan turns violent against the referee, Joao Batista Cunha Brito.

The fourth official and Iranduba teammates intervene to break up the fracas. The police ended up arresting Derlan for assault.

Source: Dirty Tackle

With the criticism comes a report from Indiana where the Indiana Soccer Referee Committee no longer allows children under the age of 14 to work as paid referees. The US Soccer Federation’s official policy allows children 12 and older to officiate. Samir Yasa, Indiana’s Referee Administrator, says the policy has always remained the same:

The Indiana Department of Labor made the Soccer Referee Committee change its policy on the age of referees with this response from the Indiana Statute:

The re-affirmation of this statute now terminates the early referee careers of many 12 and 13-year olds that already began training for this year’s soccer season.

Here is the letter sent to youth referees under the age of 14 in Indiana:

Source: Indiana Public Media & many emails…

A charged atmosphere rife with nationalist chants boiled over midway through the second half when Borac fans hurled a hard object that hit the assistant referee, forcing referee Midhat Arnatuvic to stop the match.

It was the second successive match between the two teams to be abandoned after their league fixture last September was halted at the same venue when Borac fans invaded the pitch and hurled rocks and flares at Zeljeznicar supporters.

Zeljeznicar were leading 1-0 through a superb Zajko Zeba free kick on Wednesday when trouble erupted.

Bosnian soccer has been plagued with violence in recent years as rival fans in the ethnically divided country clash regularly when their teams play each other.

During last September’s league match between Borac and Zeljeznicar, the home fans produced a banner hailing Bosnian Serb genocide suspect Ratko Mladic.

In October, a friendly between Zeljeznicar and Croatian side Hajduk Split was cancelled before kick-off in Sarajevo after rival fans turned the streets of Bosnia’s capital into a battlefield, injuring dozens of people and damaging cars.

Fighting erupted inside the Grbavica stadium and continued after police drove out the hooligans.

The bad news is that they are already three times over budget and are being built with taxpayers’ money despite initial promises that private enterprise would foot the bill.

Although all the stadiums should be ready for the kick-off in 26 months’ time, with sports minister Aldo Rebelo saying that some will be ready by the end of this year, there will be a heavy price for Brazil’s beleaguered taxpayers to pay.

The stadiums are much more expensive than similar arenas built elsewhere and at least four of them, and perhaps as many as eight, will be white elephants, unlikely ever to turn a profit.

“I don’t understand why a stadium in Brazil needs to cost 500 million reais ($275 million) when there are examples of stadiums built elsewhere in the world with 40,000 or 50,000 seats that cost less than half that,” said Amir Somoggi, Sports Management Consulting Director at BDO Brazil, an auditing firm.

The ballooning price tag of the World Cup preparations is yet another example of the “Brazil cost”, an exasperating mix of high taxes, stifling bureaucracy and crumbling infrastructure that make Brazil a notoriously expensive and difficult place to do business.

Those elements are perhaps most evident at Itaquera in Sao Paulo, where Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht is building a brand new arena to host the prestigious opening match.

The stadium, which will belong to Sao Paulo’s biggest club Corinthians once the tournament is over, will seat 48,000 fans and cost at least 820 million reais ($450.5 million).

But that doesn’t include the construction and removal of the 20,000 additional seats that FIFA, soccer’s governing body, requires for the opening game.

Odebrecht and Corinthians officials still do not know how much the temporary seating will cost.

“Our contract is to build a 48,000-seat stadium and prepare the ground for the additional seating,” said Frederico Barbosa, the engineer in charge of the project. “The cost of that is still being discussed.”

There are other issues surrounding Itaquera, as with most World Cup grounds. It is far from the city centre and the road links and surrounding infrastructure are poor.

The design also has its detractors. Although it is one of the most expensive of the 12 venues, areas behind the goals are uncovered, a problem in a country with torrential rains and blistering heat.

And it is one of only two not to seek certification by the Green Building Council, according to GBC officials in Brazil.

But it does have nearby rail and metro links, unlike many of the other stadiums for the Cup, and construction is on time.

“We’ve been surprised how well things have gone, to get this far after just nine months is great,” said Barbosa.

CORINTHIANS VS SAO PAULO

The opening match was supposed to take place at Morumbi, the 73,000-seat stadium owned by Sao Paulo FC, arch-rivals of Corinthians.

Sao Paulo drew up plans to modernize the ground but FIFA and local organizers rejected them. Instead, FIFA and the Brazilian Football Confederation urged Corinthians to build a brand new facility.

Corinthians, however, said it did not need 65,000 seats. After much discussion, the club agreed to build a 48,000-seat arena and add temporary seating for the opening match.

The cost was set at 350 million reais ($192 million) but could reach three times that once the temporary grandstands are factored in.

Half the money will come in from the BNDES, Brazil’s state development bank, at subsidized interest rates. The rest will come from private investors who are allowed to write off the cost in tax breaks. That financing model is common to the nine grounds that are publicly owned.

“I can’t believe that the Corinthians stadium will be more modern or more efficient than the Allianz Arena, a ground that was the most expensive in the Germany World Cup and an obra prima in sports architecture,” said Somoggi, referring to the Munich stadium.

SOARING COSTS

Overall, the estimated cost of stadiums has more than tripled since Brazil were awarded the tournament in 2007.

The current official estimate of 6.7 billion reais ($3.68 billion) is well above the 1.4 billion euros ($1.87 billion) Germany spent on its 12 stadiums for the 2006 World Cup and more than twice the $1.48 billion South Africa spent on 10 arenas just two years ago.

The modernisation of the legendary Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, where the World Cup Final will be held, will exceed 1 billion reais ($550 million) when added to other reforms carried out over the last few years.

This overhaul is the third in just over a decade and costs soared after engineers mistakenly decided the stadium would not need a new roof.

In Cuiaba, a city with little footballing tradition, authorities are spending 520 million reais ($285.7 million) on a stadium for just four group games.

The Amazonian city of Manaus is shelling out more than 533 million reais ($293 million) on a new arena even though its best club is in the fourth division of the Brazilian championship.

“If it was just based on football criteria then the games wouldn’t even be on TV here as our standards of professional football leave a lot to be desired,” said Carlos Cavalcanti, the organizer of a state football tournament in Manaus.

“The fact that people want to visit Amazonia is the main factor.”

Critics say the government, under pressure to accelerate public works project for the Cup, is inadvertently catering to big business at the expense of the Brazilian taxpayer. Authorities are already handing out contracts without putting them out to tender because time is tight.

“This is all just a chance for the big construction firms to get their hands in the till,” said Christopher Gaffney, a visiting professor at the graduate school of architecture and urban planning at Fluminense Federal University in Rio.

“Society is not going to benefit in any way.”

Organizers dismiss those concerns, Rebelo saying that a report by a government agency declaring that four of the 12 stadiums are likely to be white elephants “wasn’t worth commenting on”.

The delays mean the stadiums will not all be ready for the Confederations Cup, the tournament held as a curtain raiser in 2013. But they should be ready for the main event a year later, even if it means going well over budget.

($1 = 1.82 reais)

“When United play at home they get some advantage that other teams don’t get,” the former Arsenal midfielder told BBC Sport at the Soccerex conference in Manchester on Wednesday.

“I think when you go to United, Madrid, Barcelona, or Milan, when the referees referee these kind of games, it’s always difficult to go against these kind of teams. This is the way it is.”

Frenchman Vieira, who enjoyed many title battles against United while at Arsenal, was speaking two days after Fulham had a strong penalty claim turned down near the end of their 1-0 defeat by the champions at Old Trafford.

Victory allowed United to go three points clear of City, with whom Vieira had a short spell as a player and is now a football development executive.

“It’s something the teams who are used to winning get all the time, so we need to win games so we have this advantage in the future,” he said.

Vieira, who made 28 appearances for City after joining from Inter Milan, said that despite his club seeing their lead disappear in recent weeks, they deserve to win their first English title since 1968.

“Since the start of the season we’ve been the best team and played the best football,” Vieira said.

“I believe the club deserves it. When you are first you have the advantage, (United) are favorites.”

Vieira also said the return of Carlos Tevez, out since September after refusing to warm up as substitute in the Champions League against Bayern Munich, was a boost.

“We’re glad Carlos is back. The quality of these kind of players will be really important at this stage of the season,” he said. “The issue was between him and the club. The players were really pleased to see him back.”

The plan to grant anonymity and protection to players and officials targeted by illegal gambling groups was announced amid great fanfare by world soccer’s ruling body last September.

It was quietly put on ice two weeks later when Blatter decided to integrate it into broader efforts to clean up governance at FIFA, which has been dogged by allegations of corruption over the awards of World Cups to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022 and its own election process.

“President Blatter suspended the program specifically focused on match-fixing to allow both the Executive Committee and the independent governance committee to determine whether this should be applied against the totality of the organization,” FIFA’s head of security Chris Eaton told the Soccerex European Forum.

“It’s true to say that I was disappointed but I understood. I’m pleased that they saw it as being a valuable programme to apply in a more total way,” Eaton later told reporters.

Mark Pieth, a Swiss corporate governance expert, heads the governance committee and is due to present his findings to FIFA on Friday.

Eaton, an Australian former policeman, joined FIFA only two years ago. He said his decision to move to the Qatar-based International Centre for Sports Security (ICSS) was not connected to the suspension of the whistle-blowing scheme.

The ICSS, a private body, was set up last year to help protect major sports events. Eaton said he was pleased to be working across a wider range of sports.

“I am looking forward to broadening the responsibility because the common issues here – it’s the same bookmakers and the same criminals,” he said.

Soccer has been hit by match-fixing scandals in a number of leagues around the world. Three Pakistani cricketers were jailed last year for agreeing to fix part of a test match against England at Lord’s.

Eaton said the problems stemmed from unregulated gambling markets in South-East Asia, which were being exploited by organized crime groups.

Infantino’s comments are the broadest hint yet that UEFA will follow the line of its president Michel Platini who is staunchly against the introduction of goalline technology which is likely to be approved by the game’s authorities in July.

The law-making International Football Association Board is holding final testing into two technology systems and both could be approved when IFAB meets on July 2.

“If the technology is approved on July 2 we have to see what is approved, how it will work, how complicated or not it will be – and then it will go to our executive committee,” Infantino told reporters during the Soccerex business convention.

Platini has stood steadfastly against technology being introduced, saying he preferred the use of two additional officials in matches behind the goal to aid the referee.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who like Platini was once a staunch opponent of any technological aid, changed his mind after England’s Frank Lampard had a clearly legitimate goal against Germany ruled out during the World Cup finals in South Africa two years ago.

Blatter had called for a halt to tests earlier that year but said they could go ahead again after the embarrassment of Lampard’s ghost goal.

“What we have at the moment is two additional referees, with which we are very happy,” Infantino added. “And if the two additional referees are approved by the IFAB on July 2, then it’s likely we will use that. Certainly that system, then we will see about goal line technology.”

Infantino said using extra officials has an added benefit as they can help the referee rule on more situations than just disputed goals.

“On goal-line technology you can see whether a goal has been scored or not,” Infantino said.

“An additional assistant next to the goal can see this, but also some other things.”

Goalline technology will not be used at this summer’s Euro 2012, but FIFA has said it expects it to be used at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

“To underline the significance of the FIFA World Cup for world football’s governing body, the complete FIFA Executive Committee is now, for the first time, part of this decision-making forum which is responsible for monitoring and organizing each edition of FIFA’s flagship event,” the body said on Wednesday.

FIFA said Danny Jordaan, chief executive of South Africa’s organizing committee for the 2010 World Cup, and Alexei Sorokin, head of the Russian 2018 organizing committee, would also be involved.

Preparations for the tournament in Brazil have been dogged by delays in the building of stadiums and other infrastructure such as airports, local transport connections and hotels.

Those worries have been increased by plans to have teams travelling to different parts of the vast country for their group matches rather than staying in the same venue.

FIFA has also become exasperated at delays over a so-called World Cup bill which would temporarily over-ride local laws which ban the sale of alcohol in stadiums and guarantee discounted tickets for students and old-age pensioners.

FIFA confirmed that secretary-general Jerome Valcke, who infuriated Brazilians by saying local organizers needed “a kick up the backside”, had taken part in a meeting of the organizing committee in Zurich on Wednesday.

“Jerome Valcke attended the meeting as the person in charge of the FIFA World Cup organisation at FIFA,” said soccer’s governing body in a separate statement.

Brazil sports minister Aldo Rebelo had called for Valcke, who has repeatedly said that the bill should have been passed in 2007, to be replaced.

FIFA also met Jose Maria Marin, the new head of Brazil’s local organizing committee after Ricardo Teixeira quit citing health problems and amid allegations of corruption.

Despite the delays and political turmoil, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said Brazil would organize an exceptional World Cup.

“After the re-confirmation received from President Dilma Rousseff and the Brazilian government, we are confident that despite the many tasks still to be completed by all of us, Brazil will stage an exceptional FIFA World Cup in 2014,” Blatter said after the organizing committee meeting.

“I can’t believe this has happened,” Bradford manager Phil Parkinson, who had three players shown red cards after the 2-1 home defeat on Tuesday night, told the BBC.

“I have never been in a situation before where a ref has come into the dressing room, pulled players on one side and sent them off. He wouldn’t allow me in there.”

Six Crawley players and one from Bradford were booked during the match with Bradford’s Andrew Davies, who was sent off, now set for a five-match ban after being shown red cards twice previously this season.

Bradford V Crawley Town Mass Fight Brawl !!! -... by antonis_tsir

In the video, a senior player from Lewisville is tripped and falls to the ground by a Chester High School player.  When the Lewisville player gets on the ground, she punches and drags her opponent by the hair.  A number of punches are delivered over a period of 10 seconds as the Chester opponent protects herself on the ground.  The video shows at least eleven punches to the face.

Chester County Sheriff deputies were called to Lewisville High School after the assault.  The school’s resource officer is investigating the incident to see if charges will be filed. Referees will review the video with the league to determine suspensions.

Referee Alan Parker spoke to WBTV3 after the game:

Source: WBTV3

Check out the video and let us know your reaction to the footage.