Referee’s car burned out on way to match

Dutch referee Richard Liesveld could not referee his match yesterday because his car got on fire on the way to the football match Roda JC – Vitesse in Dutch top league. The referee’s car burned out completely.

Scheidsrechter #Liesveld zal vanavond niet fluiten bij de wedstrijd van #RodaJC zijn auto brand momenteel bij de #A2 pic.twitter.com/qXGettjIZH

— Djehtro Saya (@Djio83) August 17, 2013

Liesveld heared a strange noise while driving so he stopped at the first gas station, Dutch FA’s press officer said. He noticed nothing at first glance and wanted to continue, but then people who were near to the car warned him that his car was burning from underneath. The referee could get out safely, but was not able to take his referee equipment with him.

A witness says on Twitter that they couldn’t get closer (see picture above) because glass was going everywhere.

The referee talked about Twitter about the incident. “I was startled enormously. It’s so surreal if you see the car you just have driven in burned down in just five minutes”, tweets Liesveld.

Het is allemaal heel onwerkelijk als je in 5 min je auto ziet afbranden, waarmee je net komt aanrijden.

Dutch FA found Ed Janssen able to officiate that match, so players didn’t have to go back home without playing. Police is investigating the case. Dutch FA thinks it’s just a technical problem in the car and not something which is planned by angry football fans.