The Super 8 clash between New Young’s SC and Solid SC in the Dialog Champions League week 3 took a rather unfortunate turn earlier this week as the referee, New Young’s coach and police were involved in a couple of tense situations.
The match started in customary fashion where the Wennappuwa side took charge and bossed the side from Anuradhapura, leading to New Young’s gaining the upper hand with front man, Hasitha Priyankara scoring a brilliant goal.
Solid SC eventually bounced back in the second half with a wonderful goal scored by Abumere after a great passage of play for the lads from Anuradhapura.
New Youngs – Solid ends in a fiery draw
The 3 rd match of DCL Super 8 Week 03 between New Youngs FC and Solid SC ended in a 1 – 1 draw in the match held at the Kelaniya Football Complex…
Inconsistency and indiscipline?
Although it was an intense game right from the get go, the referee was able to maintain a satisfactory level of control in the match in the very beginning.
However, midway through the 1st half, one could see a higher number of cynical fouls being committed by members of both teams. The usual course of action in such a situation would be for the referee to warn the respective players, before things got out of hand. Unfortunately, no such warnings were given.
The continued cynical play and lack of control exerted by the referee led to increased tension between the two sides, particularly on the side-lines and it boiled over when the first yellow card was shown to New Youngs SC player, Thilanka Priyadarshana in the latter part of the first half. Many deemed the offense to have been more of an ordinary foul in comparison to the fouls committed earlier in the game and that it did not merit a yellow card.
The decision prompted an angry reaction from New Youngs SC coach, Rohitha Fernando, who left his technical area to voice his opinions to the referee. The referee then ordered the expulsion of Mr. Fernando however as the coach did not comply with the referee’s request, the game was stalled for a significant amount of time until the match commissioner and police intervened.
A similar situation arose in the English Premier League as well, with Mike Dean, due to his poor performance as a referee, which left the Football Association (FA) no choice but to demote him to the Championships.
What must be noted is that action taken against him was taken after the match by the FA and not by coaches or players during games.
As such, it is disappointing that the coach of New Youngs chose to confront the referee repeatedly as there is already a process in place to deal with referees whose officiating is below the the expected standards.
Unnecessary police involvement
What was uncalled for in the incident however was the involvement of the police as an exchange of words between the officials and coach, particularly as it did not provoke any animosity from the spectators nor descend into a fist fight.
Rohitha Fernando did try to convey to the Police officers that a coach is well within his rights to question decisions made by the officials (of course, within reasonable limits) however this seemed to fall on deaf ears.
With the tournament still going on, it is of utmost importance that the Federation takes necessary disciplinary action in order to avoid such future incidences.
Army misdemeanor gives Renown the win
Renown SC has been awarded the win in their match against Army SC after the Competitions Committee found Army guilty of fielding an ineligible player in the 2016 DCL Super 8 Week 3 encounter..
