Linesman pulls out a gun to protect himself from fans

The Romanian footballer who won a penalty but refused to take it as he did not feel he had been fouled. Perhaps the player wouldn’t have showed so much insolence, if he knew of the tendency for Romanian officials to carry guns.

In a recent match between Romanian sides Popesti Stefan and Unirea Dragalina, the referee allowed a questionable goal. This angered the home fans, some of whom ran onto the pitch to protest. In a mobile phone video submitted to German website Bild, the assistant referee is hounded, and then seen to pull a gun from under his jersey.

Revealing a deadly weapon was a successful method of calming the crowd down, but it has landed the official in hot water with the police.

Romanian wins a penalty, refuses to take it

Here’s something C-Ron won’t be doing anytime soon…

In 1996, Robbie Fowler won the FIFA Fair Play Award thanks to an incident at Highbury, where he was awarded a penalty but tried to persuade the referee that Arsenal keeper David Seaman had not fouled him. Such good sportsmanship is rare in the beautiful game these days, but Rapid Bucharest midfielder Costin Lazar has reminded us that integrity in the face of a goal scoring opportunity still exists.

During a Romanian Liga 1 match with Otelul Galati last week, the Romanian was awarded a penalty, but refused to take it as he did not believe he was fouled. Unlike Fowler, Lazar was able to persuade the referee that he had made the wrong decision, and a drop ball was awarded instead.