The Zhytomyr club demands that both referees be punished, and also calls on the UPL clubs to have a face-to-face meeting with Rizzoli and Monzul
Polesie published an official statement in which it criticized the work of the arbitrators Andrey Shandor And Roman Blavatsky in the 12th round match UPL against Alexandria (0:1) and demanded that the necessary measures be taken.
The Zhytomyr club is satisfied with the decision of the Ukrainian Football Association for the first time in history to publish recordings of conversations between the chief match referee (Sandor) and his colleague (Blavatsky), responsible for the VAR system.
Based on the published materials, Polesie expresses indignation at the work of both mentioned referees in the episode that occurred at 90+3 minutes of the game.
Let us remind you that in the situation under consideration, the ball hit the hand of Alexandria defender Miguel Campos in the hosts’ penalty area. The referee team turned to video replay for help, and its UAF negotiations made public November 4. Based on the transcript, Sandor did not see the ball hit the hand, and Blavatsky concluded that the ball hit the upper arm (shoulder), but noted the blurriness of the picture, after which he stated that the check was completed.
Polesie states:
“Chief referee Sandor did not see the episode, did not watch the replay (did not use VAR) and, accordingly, did not fulfill his direct duties in the match. VAR referee Blavatsky recorded a possible hit of the ball in the hand in the penalty area of FC Alexandria, but showed unacceptable and suspicious haste in his decision, and also, without any convincing arguments, ended the review of the key moment of the match of direct competitors. In turn, Sandor, having not received a confident argument from Blavatsky regarding the episode with the hand, refused to independently review the episode.”
“Thus, chief referee Sandor and VAR referee Blavatsky showed criminal negligence, which radically affected the final result of the match and, as a consequence, the course of the championship.”
Earlier, in the 83rd minute, Alexandria opened the scoring (this was done by substitute Evgeniy Smirny) – this goal was the only one and brought victory to Ruslan Rotan’s team, which continued the race with Dynamo, trailing the UPL leader only in additional indicators. Polissya, having suffered its first defeat of the season, dropped to fourth place, behind Shakhtar, and is now 7 points behind the two leaders.
In its statement, the Zhytomyr club demands that the UAF evaluate the actions of Sandor and Blavatsky and take all necessary disciplinary measures against Sandor and Blavatsky to prevent similar mistakes in the future.
In addition, Polesie calls on UPL clubs to support the initiative for a face-to-face meeting of clubs with UAF arbitration consultant Nicola Rizzoli and UAF referee chairperson Ekaterina Monzul “to discuss pressing issues regarding referee decisions that arose in large numbers throughout the beginning of this season and had an impact on result”.
In the next round of the UPL, Alexandria will host Karpaty at home on November 9, and Polesie will play at home against Dynamo a day later.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
