Referees still under fire

Press, 26 April 1984, Page 40

Referees still under fire

The refereeing in the qualifying tournament continues to come under fire.

Even within their own ranks there has been much unrest with some performances obviously well below the standard ’ required at this level. The trouble reached a climax in the Qatar-Iraq game in which the Chinese referee, Zhang Daqiao, needed a heavy police escort from the field after Qatar had upset the Group B favourites, 2-0.

An all-in brawl early in the second spell almost ended the game. Only the swift intervention of police and officials stopped the explosive situation from getting completely out of hand.

Afterwards, the New Zealand coach, Allan Jones, criticised the referee for his handling of the game and the decision which robbed Iraq of what would have been the equalising goal. “The teams suffered be-

cause of the poor decisions bj- the match officials." said Mr Jones. At the same time. Mr Jones praised the Syrian referee, Jamal Alcharif, who had controlled the New Zealand-South Korean game.

“This was a game between two supposedly physical teams yet there was no trouble and no yellow cards,” said Mr Jones. “He had a firm control of the game, and. because of that, the respect of the players."

Mr Alcharif and the Australian, Chris Bambridge. have been the best referees at the tournament. With a likely Arab (Iraq)-Asian (South Korea) play-off on Sunday, Mr Bambridge must be on the short list to control the game. Referees have also been warned about the increasing talk of bribes and have taken definite steps to further close their ranks.