red card

one of the best things about football season is that there's always some action seen in the newspapers. and i'm not talking about the sports section.

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From The Star Online:

Wife sees red over hubby’s passion for the game
by R.S.N. Murali

SEREMBAN: An ardent football fan who sneaked out of bed to watch a Euro 2004 live telecast received a “red card” when his 41-year-old wife battered him with the television remote control for staying up late yesterday. When his wife also snatched the smart card of the pay television service to prevent him from watching future live telecasts, the 46-year-old salesman who only wanted to be identified as Yap from Seremban Two here, sought the help of the MCA Public Complaints bureau chief, Khoo Seng Hock. Yap claimed that his wife forced him to sleep early, as he had to send their two children to school in the morning.

“She refused to allow me to watch the game although I promised not oversleep or shun my responsibility of sending the children to school,” he said.

At about 2.20am, Yap who was all set to watch the live telecast, sneaked out of his bedroom.

“I headed straight to the kitchen to grab a soft drink and some food before sitting down to watch the live telecast,” he said.

Yap shouted in disappointment when his favourite team England was crushed by France in injury time. His wife woke up, grabbed the remote control and hit him on his head a few times before ejecting the smart card from the decoder and hiding it. Yap said he had no choice but to seek Khoo's help as his wife had banned him from going elsewhere to watch football.

“My wife just doesn’t understand my passion for football,” he said.

After much persuasion from Khoo, Yap's wife relented and said her husband could watch football.

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[reflections] the folks manning the MCA public complaints bureau probably have some of the most entertaining war stories around..