Order Diplomatic Statement on the VERA World Cup
Order Diplomatic Statement on the VERA World Cup was an official diplomatic statement by the Ambassador of the Republic of Megatridimensional Order regarding the incident at the 2019 VERA Roofball World Cup Semifinal, where Quentinian referee Lewis Mayenvum disqualified the Paladinian National Roofball Team
"Today Venturia witnessed an unparalleled display of unprofessionalism and gross misconduct by Lewis Mayenvum, the head referee in the VERA match between Paladinia and the Allian national teams. Mayenvum, charged with facilitating an exciting match in a series meant to promote unity and Venturian goodwill, instead lost control of the players, then the game. Faced with anger over yet another terrible call in a game of unbelievable bad calls - all of which went against Paladinia - Mayenvum blatantly ignored his charge to de-escalate, and instead ejected multiple Paladinian players. Several of the ejected players appeared to be doing nothing more than appealing to reason and, finding none, became understandably distraught. Mayenvum, in yet another staggeringly poor judgement call in an afternoon full of them, called in security and shut down the match when there was no physical threat and no need to do so.
The Paladinian team is not the first team in sports to be extremely upset by a referee's treatment in a game and to react in an unsportsmanlike fashion. But I, as the rest of the world, saw the Paladinians pushed too far some of the worst calls in sports history, and then were immediately disqualified when they argued the call. This happens in sports all the time. Mayenvum, a retired professional sportsman himself and to this point a decent referee, knows this. But these calls were so blatantly missed, Mayenvum uncharacteristically lost control of the game, disqualified multiple players, forced a forfeit, and turned the match over to police action in record time and without any evidence of a threat. There are, unfortunately, only two possible reasons for this strange and outrageous turn of events. Mr. Mayenvum suffered a complete psychotic and/or mental breakdown or this was a poorly executed ruse to eliminate the Paladinian team. In either event, in order to maintain the integrity of the games and the goodwill between nations, action needs to be taken to repair the damage. It is our hope that VERA or the United States of Quentin, Mayenvum's home nation and biggest tournament benefactor of the Paladinian's loss, call for an immediate reversal and a replay of the game.
Anything less, and the Quentinians will be guilty of escalation: from ambassador of goodwill sports to enabler of international insult."
