Thursday, February 01, 2007
Singapore won Thailand in the first leg of the ASEAN championship finals. 2-1 ahead. What was the main issue being discussed in the papers regardless of which paper you bought is the controversial decision of the Malaysian referee and the act of the Thai coach. Let my blog turn into a new report today to justify my blogskin.
Singapore went a goal up with Noh Alam Shah scoring after a scramble in the penalty box when shots were blocked and deflected. In the event of the scramble, a Thai player went down but it was a fair incident as he wasn’t attacked by Singapore players, he was whacked on the face by the ball off a shot at goal. Later in the second half, the Thais came back with a defensive error from the imported Englishman Daniel Bennet which gave the Thais an opportunity to score. What was the main topic was two incidents that took place. First was when a Singapore striker was kicked in the stomach by a Thai player when he was heading for goal. No penalty was given. Then came the big topic. Was Noh Alam Shah pulled by the Thai defender in the box? Should it be a penalty? The Thais walked off the field and refused to return till 15 min after the incident took place. Penalty taken. Singapore scored.
What the public felt over this incident:
- There was no sportsmanship in the Singapore players as the Singapore player should have told the referee that he wasn’t fouled
- The referee was not a efficient referee as he made a lot of wrong decisions
- The Thais lack of sportsmanship to walk off the pitch
- The Thai coach was childish, asking his players to walk off the pitch
and many more……
I really felt that no matter what, the Thais were overboard to walk off the pitch. Act of childishness. Which referee will make all correct decisions in his career? Which human don’t make mistakes? What I read from the papers of some comments really were bingos of what I feel. One wrote that we should stand in the referee’s position and look at things. If you were standing right at the spot he was at, what will you do? If you see one player falling backwards and there is another opponent behind him? Go up and ask the Thai player “eh, did you pull him down?” or to the Singapore player asking “were you pulled or you just merely fell backwards while trying to get the ball?” or go ahead with the game or penalty? This person wrote that we can have cameras and sophiscated devices to backtrack and see at a much slower speed of what happened but the referee don’t. Stand at his view and see things. Be in his shoes. The Thais and the coach were also childish to walk out in that situation. Now what I am worried is what will happen when our players go over to Thailand for the return match? The safety there is so bad that anything can happen.
Good luck guys! Bring the cup back!
i finished typing this entry at 6:36 PM
