Referees trade shoes during MLS match

In the 19th minute of a match between Real Salt Lake and the Chicago Fire, play was halted and two of the referee’s assistants met in the center circle and began taking off their shoes. This, needless to say, is a strange occurrence.

Stranger still, the two men then put on each other’s shoes and returned to their positions. It seemed the linesman needed a bit more grip than his shoes were offering, so he swapped with the fourth official because, well, fourth officials could wear bunny slippers and it wouldn’t really matter. The match then continued without any further shoe swapping between the officials, who all apparently wear the same size by some remarkable coincidence.

There are many layers to the strangeness of this situation.

(Full video here)

Fifpro member wants Jose Mourinho jailed for bullying Bastian Schweinsteiger

Jose Mourinho has deemed Bastian Schweinsteiger surplus to requirements at Man United, but with two years left on his three-year contract, the 32-year-old German midfielder reportedly doesn’t want to move, so Mourinho has cast him out into the wilderness of training with the reserves. According to footballer turned lawyer Dejan Stefanovic, who is a member of world players’ union Fifpro, this constitutes bullying and is worthy of a prison sentence for Mourinho.

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