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I read a short story long ago. I can't remember the details but I would like to reread it. What's it's title?

The story is a science fiction story concerning some sports match. A referee makes a bad call and then the hats of the spectators reflect sunlight burning him. I also remember the author is pretty famous but I can't remember who.

I read it online in a collection of sci-fi stories 4-5 years ago. It's probably 20th century. It might have been Clarke or Asimov.

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    You will have to provide more detail than that. When did you read this? Where? Was it an anthology or a magazine? What language? You can consult this page to help jog your memory. May 1, 2017 at 21:03
  • I read it online in a collection of sci-fi stories 4-5 years ago. It's probably 20-th century. It might have been Clarke or Asimov. May 1, 2017 at 21:11
  • You can edit your question to add details you come up with. May 1, 2017 at 21:17
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    @Gallifreyan Nah, it's a classic, perfectly recognizable from the description. May 1, 2017 at 21:18
  • @Gilles I'm changing the title because no official in association football has been called an "umpire" for decades now
    – muru
    May 2, 2017 at 2:48

1 Answer 1

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That would be “A Slight Case of Sunstroke” by Arthur C. Clarke. Like most of Clarke's story, it's a hard SF story (perfectly physically plausible). It's one of two stories by Clarke where someone is killed by a death ray, the other being “Let There Be Light”.

In “A Slight Case of the Sunstroke”, the setting is a football match between the national teams of two fictional Latin American countries, and the spectators have been (unknowing to them) instructed to orient reflective material in such a way as to kill a political opponent of the order giver. In “Let There Be Light”,

a driver is blinded and loses control of his car.

This story has also been sought on SF&F.

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