Refereeing expert springs a surprise: Al Wasl player deserved to be sent off against Al Ahli!

A controversial decision

Former international referee Saad Al-Kathiri, the refereeing analyst for the Saudi newspaper "Al-Jazirah", has reopened the row over the officiating in Al-Ahli of Saudi Arabia's clash with Al-Wasl of the UAE. He insists one of the Emirati side's players should have walked for his conduct towards Saleh Abu Al-Shamat, the "Al-Raqi" winger.

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The flashpoint came in the 40th minute. Al-Wasl's Sufian put his hand over his mouth as he spoke to Abu Al-Shamat, and according to Al-Kathiri the gesture came with verbal abuse aimed at the Al-Ahli man. For the refereeing expert, that amounts to disgraceful conduct and merits a red card.

Qatari referee Abdulrahman Jassim needed to be far more decisive, in Al-Kathiri's view, particularly because this went beyond a simple exchange between two players and strayed into behaviour he regards as a breach of discipline on the pitch.

"The Al-Wasl player deserved to be sent off," Al-Kathiri said, pointing to the hand over the mouth and the verbal abuse directed at Abu Al-Shamat as disgraceful conduct. The referee should have applied the laws, he argues, rather than leaving the player on the field.

Praise did go the way of the video assistant referee. Al-Kathiri confirmed the VAR did its job by sending Jassim to the monitor. The referee then got it wrong anyway, in his opinion, even after watching the footage.

Failing to produce the red card shaped the game, Al-Kathiri concluded, because the incident demanded a decisive call. His remarks have stirred the argument over a match littered with tension and confrontations between the players, with growing calls for the regulations to be applied clearly to conduct of that kind.