Churchill flays change in referees for AFC match
*Singapore referees replaced by Bahrain trio for Qadsia match
HERALD SPORTS REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 15
Churchill Alemao today took up the matter of the change of supervising match officials in Churchill Bros v. Al Qadsia round of 16 AFC Cup match in Kuwait on Wednesday, with the AFC.
Churchill said that as per the official communication routed through the AIFF on April 12, the referee and the assistant referees nominated for the match were all from Singapore, with the fourth official being from Maldives. How, these were changed and Bahrain (referee and assistant referees) and Qatar (fourth referee) officials nominated for the match, is a mystery,” disclosed Churchill and added that these four were from the Gulf itself, just like Qadsia.
“This major and sudden change was not intimated to us and we came to know about it only the previous day of the match and that also through the Match Commissionner in Kuwait. With our rivals Qadsia being also from the Gulf region, it stands to reason that Gulf referees ought not to have been appointed even if the Singaporean referees were not available, only for the sake of absolute neutrality and impartiality,” explained Churchill.
“I have the entire match recording and one can see that the goal scored by Odafa after our team was down 0-2 in the first half was a legitimate one. There is no case for calling for off-side as the assistant referee did not wave the flag. There is no case for pulling Odafa for any infrigment as the striker is in the clear. How and why the Bahrain referee diasallowed the goal remains a mystery,” reasoned out Churchill.
“You watch the match recording and it is obvious that the refereeing was biased, with Churchill Bros being at the receiving end for most part of the game. Since the referee is supreme and his decisions on point of facts are unquestionable, we have lodged our protest against the change of the officials under the point of law that referees from the same region cannot be listed for a match involving a team from the same contiguous region, much more so when referees from Singapore were assigned the task as can be seen from the letter from AFC,” remarked Churchill.
“Abdul Malik Bin Abdul Bashir was listed as the referee, Haja Maidin Bin Peer Mohamed as assistant referee, Tanh Yew Mun as assistant referee 2 (all from Singapore) and Saleem Ali of Maldives as fourth official,” stated Churchill. There was also a change in the Match Commissionner and the Referees Assesor, Churchill added.
Churchill pointed out that the officials were named much before the final group match against Kuwait Sporting Club in Kuwait which decided the placings and since there was a chance that Churchill could finish on top, the AIFF was informed about the Singaporean officials as there was a chance that the pre-quarter final match could be played in Goa. The AIFF had even initiated its move for procuring the visas for the officials if the match was to held in Goa.
“In any case, the appointment of Singaporean officials for the match ought not to have been changed, whether the match was played in Goa or Kuwait, as these were not from the region from where the teams were figuring in the event. Appointing referees from the same region have cast doubts more so as justice did not seem to have been done in our case as can be found out from the TV recording,” stressed Churchill.
“We have placed our case before the AFC through the AIFF. We have asked for a replay under neutral referees. It’s for them to decide now. Depending on their reply, we shall decide about the future course of action which could be even disbanding the team, since we feel that no team should be the victims of such a partiality and bias. It’s certainly not fair play. A similar situation had also occurred when Dempo played in the AFC,” Churchill pointed out.
