Football: Spit's not a problem to Raith kids.
Byline: By Ian OrrRAITH ROVERS have praised their kids side for refusing to respond to spitting and jostling during 'friendly' clashes in Spain.
Former Stark's Park boss Antonio Calderon invited a youth team over to play his Cadiz Under-19s and local side Chiclane.
But trouble flared in both matches when Raith twice took the lead and Spanish kids reacted with roughhouse tactics.
Rovers commercial boss John Drysdale and head youth coach John Gemmell, who took the 16 lads aged between 16 and 18 on the four-day trip, hailed their players for keeping cool under severe provocation.
Drysdale said: 'Our lads were magnificent and refused to become involved in any of the nonsense.Their behaviour was exemplary.
'The first match was against regional champions Chiclane Under-19s who were physically stronger and obviously expected to win.
'We were 4-0 up when they pulled a goal back and there were a few 'afters' with late tackles and a few off-the-ball incidents.
'Our boys can look after themselves but they didn't react and we ended up scoring two late goals to win 6-1.
'In the second game with Antonio's team we were leading 2-0 at half time. Again their under-19s were bigger and expected to cruise it.
'Antonio had organised a local referee, a pal of his who had just retired from the FIFA list and was actually a fourth official in Champions League games last season.
'However, there were a few outrageous decisions and it was a real experience builder for the lads.
'We were two up at half time and just stayed on the pitch but Antonio took his team in and blistered the paintwork with his team talk.
'So they came out quite determined and there were a few bits of nonsense.
'There were a couple of melees and the referee had to separate a bit of jostling between seven or eight players.
'But they were diving, spitting on players' backs and in one goalmouth stramash, one of our players had his face stood on. But our lads were great and although we ended up drawing 2-2, it was an experience for them.
'Afterwards Antonio promised to speak to his players but no one was sent off and it was a clash of cultures really.'
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| Title Annotation: | Sport |
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| Publication: | Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |
| Date: | Dec 21, 2004 |
| Words: | 375 |
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