SINGAPORE: A Singapore Football League 1 match on Saturday (Jul 29) was abandoned in the 27th minute after a player and a referee got into a tussle following a penalty decision.
The match between the Yishun Sentek and the Warwick Knights took place at Yishun Stadium.
CNA understands that the alleged incident happened after the referee awarded a penalty to Yishun, which prompted a player from Warwick to question the decision with a vulgarity.
The referee sent the player off, but he allegedly also retorted with a vulgarity. A tussle ensued, resulting in the referee’s jersey being torn.
The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) said in a statement that the decision to call off the game was “due to an incident that was deemed to compromise the safety and security of the match officials”.
Yishun are fourth in the eight-team league while Warwick are seventh. The Singapore Football League 1 is the second tier of football in Singapore after the professional Singapore Premier League.
In a post on Instagram, Yishun said that they were leading 1-0 when the match was abandoned, after they were awarded a penalty for a handball offence.
“We believe the circumstances surrounding the decision warrant a thorough investigation by the football association (FAS),” said the club.
“Our primary concern is to ensure a fair and just outcome for both the opponent and the match official involved. We trust that the FAS will conduct a fair review of the incident and take appropriate action accordingly.”
Warwick Knights chairman Andrew Lioe said the club regret that the match was abandoned “despite both teams wanting to carry on the match”.
“As the incident is under investigation, we shall not be making any comments on the incident and the decision that appears to be made by people that were not present at the stadium,” he said in a post on Instagram.
However, he called for a closed-door forum between all the referees and the club representatives of both tiers of the Football League at the start of each season, to address “increasing gaps” between referees and players in terms of communication and expectations.
“I believe this will bridge the gap and any misinterpretation of the game laws between both stakeholders,” he said. “Referees and players are not robots and humans need a common ground to interact to understand each other’s issues.”
FAS said the police were alerted to the incident. It added that the incident will be brought before the FAS Disciplinary Committee for its own investigation.
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