The rate of brazen errors that the officials have been committing in the ISL this season has been far too high to turn a blind eye anymore…
“I’m not paying INR 500 to watch a game which has such pathetic refereeing,” screamed a frustrated fan from the stands at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai on Friday after Chennaiyin FC defeated Kerala Blasters 3-1 in an eventful Indian Super League (ISL) game.
And who could blame him? Such was the appalling standards of refereeing on show at a high-profile match in what is now India‘s premier footballing league.
The match had started off on a promising note. Chennaiyin had soared into an early lead through Andre Schembri, capitalising on a static Kerala Blasters defence. But the visitors equalised with a stunning Bartholomew Ogbeche strike from distance within 10 minutes.
The atmosphere in the stadium was electric, both sets of supporters expectant and in fine voice. But what should have been a brilliant tussle between two teams desperate for a win was soon ruined by the man with the whistle.
It all unravelled in the 25th minute when Seityasen Singh fell under Anirudh Thapa’s challenge while contesting a high ball. The referee blew his whistle and the Kerala Blasters thought they had got a rightful freekick. However, the referee indicated that it was a Chennaiyin freekick (wrongly) with his hands. An alert Nerijus Valskis promptly took advantage of the situation, playing Schembri through with a quick freekick. Valskis received the ball back and scored, with the referee pointing towards the centre-circle to indicate that the goal stood.
A confused Kerala Blasters players and officials immediately broke out in protest, surrounding the referee, the linesmen and the fourth official. In fact, the support staff of both teams clashed as well, with Ishfaq Ahmed and Owen Coyle almost coming to blows. Actually, Kerala Blasters only had themselves to blame for not playing to the whistle and not being alert to the situations.
The referee, Om Prakash Thakur, went on to change his decision under duress and disallowed the goal to award Kerala Blasters the freekick. That understandably sparked an angry reaction from Chennaiyin FC. The play restarted only after a five-minute delay by which time everybody were confused as to what had happened.
What had actually happened was a series of amateurish blunders from Om Prakash Thakur. First, he should never have awarded that freekick to Chennaiyin FC. However, once he had committed that mistake, Chennaiyin were well within their rights to play on and score. Also, Valskis clearly asks the referee if it is their freekick and plays after the referee says yes. And since play had resumed after the freekick decision, and a goal had been scored which the referee had acknowledged by pointing to the centre circle, he had no rights to go back and change his earlier decision.
The Laws of the Game pertaining to the matter states – “The referee may not change a restart decision on realising that it is incorrect or on the advice of another match official if play has restarted or the referee has signalled the end of the first or second half (including extra time) and left the field of play or abandoned the match.”
Since play had restarted after the referee’s contentious call (freekick) was made, it is clear he was wrong to go back and change that decision. More importantly, it sets a dangerous precedent for other teams in such scenarios. Whenever decisions go against them, other teams can take this incident as a base and protest until the referee changes his mind.
It shows an ignorance of laws, which is criminal for a top-tier referee.
Also, despite the players surrounding the referee angrily for several minutes, none of them were booked during the incident showing a complete lack of control the referee had on proceedings.
And that was not all. Om Prakash Thakur’s incompetence was writ all over the game. One saw several quick freekicks being taken at least 10 yards away from the spot the foul had actually taken place, handing an unfair advantage to the team that had received the free-kick.
Eli Sabia’s second yellow, for standing over the ball late in injury-time, may have been contentious but his first yellow, after winning a high-ball in a challenge with Raphael Messi Bouli, was extremely harsh.
Chennaiyin FC’s Dragos Firtulescu and Rahim Ali were brought down brazenly inside the box on two occasions in the second half by desperate Kerala Blasters defenders. But the referee turned a blind eye towards the appeals. However, the shocking part was that Om Prakash Thakur was nowhere in position to even make the calls. While the action was happening inside the penalty box, he was at least 30 yards away from goal while deciding to wave away the protests.
At the end of the first half, there was a dangerous foul on Lallianzuala Chhangte by Kerala Blasters goalkeeper TP Rehenesh which went unnoticed by the referee. The visitors were also at the end of some negligent refereeing by Om Prakash Thakur.
The ongoing season of the ISL has been notorious for the consistency with which the referees have made atrocious calls which have impacted results. However, Friday’s match was a new low for refereeing standards in the ISL.
Like Chennaiyin boss Owen Coyle rightly pointed out, it is not good advertisement for a league that seeks to grow and improve the standards of football in the country. What measures are being taken to address these concerns? What is the referee assessor, one assigned for each match, doing and are there improvements? Are there punitive measures for those that underperform?
How long before those in charge wake up and smell the coffee?
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