The Kyiv club states that it has experienced first-hand the impact of “unscrupulous” referees on the game.
FC Obolon made an official statement expressing support Polesiaoutraged by the work of the referees in the key episode of the 12th round match UPL against Alexandria (0:1).
“What happened at the KSK Nika stadium borders on criminal bias, which allows one to influence the course of the competition: the penalty that was not awarded by referee Sandor at the end of the match between Alexandria and Polesie is not just a point taken away from Polesie, but under certain circumstances it can influence the final position of the teams after the end of the Championship. The indignation of FC Polesie and their fans is fully justified.”
“However, the assurances of the new leadership of the UAF to the football community of Ukraine about a change in the approach to refereeing, together with the replacement of the leadership of the UAF Referees Committee, did not make any changes to the refereeing process. And with each round, both competition participants and fans leave hopes of restoring order in the judiciary. Against the backdrop of increasingly frequent scandals related to Ukrainian judges, public confidence in arbitrators is lacking.”
“The Obolon football club experienced first-hand the hand of “unscrupulous” referees making their own history on the field. We have repeatedly appealed to the leadership of the UAF Referees Committee with a request not to appoint certain referees who have been found to be biased in refereeing for matches involving our team. However, our requests fell on deaf ears of the relevant leaders.”
The Kiev residents said they agreed to join the initiative of the Zhytomyr club to meet with Ekaterina Monzul, head of the Referee Committee of the Ukrainian Football Association, and Nicola Rizzoli, UAF arbitration consultant, to clarify “the situation that has arisen in Ukrainian football with refereeing.”
Polesie suffered its first defeat in the UPL in the last round – Imad Ashur’s team lost to Alexandria on the road. The end of the match included a scandalous episode with the ball hitting Alexandria defender Miguel Campash in the penalty area, and Polesie itself wrote an open letter to the UAF expressing dissatisfaction with the actions of the referees.
The UAF responded promptly, making the negotiations between chief referee Alexander Shandor and VAR referee Roman Blavatsky on the episode in question public. As a result, Polesie accused both judges of “criminal negligence, which radically influenced the final result of the match and, as a consequence, the course of the championship.”
The Zhytomyr club also called on colleagues from the UPL to support the initiative for a face-to-face meeting of the clubs with the UAF arbitration consultant Nicola Rizzoli and the chairman of the UAF refereeing corps Ekaterina Monzul “to discuss pressing issues regarding the decisions of the referees, which arose in large numbers throughout the beginning of this season and had an impact on result”.
Polesie ranks 4th in the UPL, seven points behind the two leaders. Obolon is second to last with six points.
In the next round, the Brewers will go to visit LNZ, and the Ashur team will try to stop Dynamo in Kyiv.
Source: Sportarena
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