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11th Jun 2016

Wales fans livid as Skrtel’s elbow on Williams goes unpunished a yard from the official

What the actual f*ck

Nooruddean Choudry

What do touchline officials do?

With Wales 1-0 up in their first international tournament game in 58 years, courtesy of a stunning Gareth Bale freekick, they had Slovakia well and truly on the ropes in a pulsating first half.

There were 13 minutes remaining to the half-time whistle when a speculative attack saw the Welsh dragons enter the opponents’ penalty area with Jonny Williams looking to latch onto the ball.

But as the Crystal Palace man advanced towards the six yard box, with Slovakia’s Martin Skrtel seemingly second best in the pursuit for possession, he was stopped in his tracks in savage style.

Skrtel sized up and then executed a vicious elbow to the midfielder’s throat in what was surely a red card offence. Williams crumpled to the ground as the ball rolled out of play.

And yet what was the punishment for this heinous challenge? A straight red? A clear penalty allowing Wales to go 2-o up? No. Nothing was given. Instead Slovakia were awarded a goal kick.

What made the negligent officiating even worse was the proximity and attention of the touchline official, who was barely a yard away with his eyes firmly on the action.

Why he did nothing in the face of such a diabolical foul is anybody’s guess. It certainly got Twitter talking that’s for sure…

https://twitter.com/W_F_Magee/status/741669628158611456

https://twitter.com/danstapleton89/status/741669619308605440