Fiji Football Association will not tolerate blunders by match officials says Fiji FA chief executive officer Mohammed Yusuf.
This after a referee Deepak Raj was dropped from the referee’s panel after making a huge blunder in the match between Tailevu Naitasiri and Suva.
Raj awarded a controversial penalty to Suva in the 75th minute after making a decision that a corner kick was cleared by a Tailevu Naitasiri player with the assistance of his hand.
However, the footage of the match showed otherwise with the ball shown to be coming off the head of two players in an aerial battle.
Fiji FA chief executive Mohammed Yusuf said they viewed the match footage and saw that there was no handball done by the Naitasiri player and the decision made by the referee was wrong.
“By observing the various reports, the video footage, and having meetings with the referee and his other match officials, it was established that he made an error of judgment.”
“The match result stays but the referees’ committee has recommended and it has been approved that Deepak Raj will be dropped from the panel for the remainder of this tournament.”
He added that with whatever footage they obtained, it was very clear that the judgement error was made by the referee.
Suva was awarded a penalty which was scored by midfielder Sahil Dave which gave the Capital City side 1-0 win in the match.
