How did FAM pick such a bad ref?
REFEREE ‘kayu’. This unflattering term, used by local football fans for underperforming referees, best describes match official Suresh Jayaraman — now labelled as one of the worst referees to ever officiate a Malaysia Cup final.
Dodgy refereeing decisions, disallowed goals and red cards were the highlights of Saturday’s final at the Shah Alam Stadium which Perak dramatically won on penalties against Terengganu.
If there was an award for the worst referee of all-time, Suresh would likely be at the top of the list.
Suresh’s refereeing was so poor that it would have given Pierluigi Collina, regarded as the most recognisable referee in the world, a heart attack.
We should question the concerned parties, namely the FA of Malaysia (FAM) and Malaysian Football League (MFL) on how Suresh and his cohorts (other match officials) were selected for this very important final.
Is Suresh the best we got in all of Malaysia?
Anyway, Suresh listed Terengganu and Liverpool as his favourites teams on his Facebook page.
We all would like to give referees the benefit of the doubt. They, undoubtedly, have a tough, challenging task and without the video replays that we all enjoy on TV, it’s little wonder that they occasionally make mistakes. But sometimes, fans find it difficult to be forgiving.
Inevitably, at times a referee will make a mistake so glaring that you wonder if the problem was that he didn’t see the incident in the first place, rather than not being able to watch it over again.
Such blunders are acceptable during a kampung game, but not at the level of the Malaysia Cup final.
For Suresh, he almost embarrassed himself by forgetting to send off Terengganu’s Lee Tuck after handing the midfielder his second yellow card in the second half.
Lee Tuck coolly walked away before the referee realised that the Englishman was on a yellow card before his second.
Football officials, players and fans flooded Facebook and Twitter commenting on Suresh’s poor refereeing.
Robert Cornthwaite, who had stints with Selangor and Perak, tweeted: “If you think the VAR is bad, just watch the refereeing in the Malaysia Cup final! Nobody can be this bad surely?” “What a farce this is turning into! “The referee has made this an embarrassment for Malaysian football! He is not fit to be out there. People starting to ask where his salary is coming from. Such a shame.”
Johor Darul Ta’zim owner Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, also joined in on Twitter-land, questioning the referee’s decisions.
“The referee for the Malaysia Cup final today is bad. I have never seen him and I am surprised why he was picked for the final.
“This is why MFL wants to bring in foreign referees for important matches.”
Others on Twitter also lambasted Suresh and I believe the referee will have a tough time facing football fans again.
Anyway, I have one advice for Suresh: Please look for another job. You are just not good enough.
* Maybe Fifa president Gianni Infantino would say something about Suresh and the standard of refereeing in the M-League if speculation of his visit to Malaysia to launch FAM’s road map is true. FAM will confirm his arrival on Wednesday.