Former Wexford Youths player Ruth Fahy was on Monday’s OTB AM and spoke about the bizarre England - Cameroon match at the Women’s World Cup.
There was an on-field protest, tears, an elbow to the face and even a spitting incident from the Cameroonians in a controversial match that will live long in the memory.
“Cameroon just lost their mind. Absolutely lost their mind. They actually briefly refused to restart the game when kick off was happening.
“They just stood in a circle and were gesturing and pointing at the big screen, which I couldn’t get my head around because the big screen was showing that it was actually the correct call,” Fahy said.
There arguably should have been three red cards for Cameroon but it was them that became incensed with the referee after two VAR decisions that rightfully went against them.
“They wouldn’t restart the game, shithousery left, right and centre, and then in the second half, the Cameroon players got even worse," Fahy said.
Cameroon thought they had scored a goal through Araja Nchout but it was brought back by VAR and eventually deemed to be offside, much to the dismay of the Cameroonian players.
“At this stage [Nchout] absolutely just lost her mind. She was in tears, balling on the side of the pitch. Their manager was giving her hugs, trying to lift her back up and it was just bizarre,” Fahy explained.
England manager Phil Neville didn’t mince his words after the game saying, “I’ve never seen behaviour as bad as Cameroon’s on a football pitch before. It was like being a kid when you lost and you went home, crying, with the ball.”
While the match could hardly be described as quality football, Fahy did admit that certain aspects were entertaining just because of how ridiculous it all was.
“I’d say Nikita Parris who got a crack of the elbow into the face wouldn’t say it’s great or Toni Duggan who got spat on the arm wouldn’t say it’s great. But you are right, it was great to watch,” Fahy laughed.
England will go on to play Norway in the quarter-finals of the World Cup while Cameroon will head home with their reputation in tatters following the bad-tempered display.
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