MEDIA STATEMENT ON SPL FIXTURE BETWEEN LION CITY SAILORS VS TAMPINES ROVERS

2022, MARCH 15 – In the Singapore Premier League (SPL) fixture between Lion City Sailors and Tampines Rovers on 13 March 2022, a goal scored by Firdaus Kasman in the 68th minute of the match was disallowed by the match officials due to ‘Offside’ offence. The match officials had adjudged Yasir Hanapi of Tampines Rovers Football Club to have interfered by making an obvious action which clearly impacts the ability of an opponent to play the ball.

In our review of the match, while the match officials had gotten the majority of the decisions correct, they had in this case, incorrectly interpreted the Law and are rightfully regretful over their respective errors in judgement. I have personally reached out to Tampines Rovers Chairman Desmond Ong to formally acknowledge and apologise for the match officials’ mistake.

As part of the FAS Referees Department’s long-term objective to have our match officials make consistent and more importantly, correct decisions, we have also, since late 2021, kick-started the planning stages to implement the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in the near future for the SPL competition.

There are multiple factors at play in any match especially in one where the stakes may be high. While this does not excuse any mistakes made, the FAS does not condone any personal attacks or doxxing of our referees and urges all members of our football fraternity to treat each other with respect through their actions and words.

Nazeer Hussain
Head, FAS Referees Department

Source: Football Association of Singapore

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