Touching any match official is a cardinal sin

with Zenon Caravella AFTER a less-than-average start this season the Roar found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline in Wellington.

Some incisive passing from the home side, poor defending, a bomb from Roy Krishna and administrative issues within the club have all contributed to their misery.

But the Roar managed to mount a comeback and draw the game after some diabolical defending from Wellington.

■ And now to an issue that always seems to come up – players touching the referee.

Way back in the 2008 grand final, out of sheer frustration Danny Vukovic struck referee Mark Shields’ hand. A match review panel later found Vukovic guilty of violent conduct and imposed a hefty 15 months suspension of which he ended up serving nine.

Whether the conduct was violent is debatable.

But the point remains, no player in any sport should ever touch a referee. It’s a cardinal sin.

Fast forward nine years later and we see an almost identical scenario this time with Victory frontman Besart Berisha involved.

While a superstar of the ALeague, Berisha is well known for his fiery temper and nature.

After an incident during the Victory-Adelaide clash the fourth official, while trying to calm Berisha down, was shoved away in an aggressive manner.

After a tribunal hearing he was handed a two match suspension. An extremely lucky man in my eyes.

■ Stuart Musialik, a friend and an absolute gun of a player, disappeared from the ALeague at 26.

Sadly he battled the harrowing experience of mental illness which eventually took a toll on a player that was destined for big things.

What is truly remarkable in my eyes, is the fact that Stuart has the courage and confidence to speak about his ordeal to raise awareness about something that is often left unspoken as part of his own ‘Stop Men Dying Too Young’ campaign.

Every year players from the A-league participate in Movember campaign as a fantastic way to get the message out there about mental health.

Whether you’re a fan of the ‘Mo’ or not we all need to get behind this cause.