EASTERN RAGE OVER ‘LACK OF JUDGMENT’

Team take match officials to task, including VAR, highlighting a handball and fouls missed during their local Premier League game against Kitchee

Eastern launched an astonishing attack on officiating in the Hong Kong Premier League, and questioned the credibility of their game against Kitchee on Saturday following a string of contentious decisions during a 0-0 draw.

A seemingly clear handball in the penalty area by Kitchee defender Sedin Ramic was missed by referee Ho Wai-sing and apparently ignored by the video assistant referee (VAR), Luk Kin-sun.

Later, Kitchee defenders Helio and Law Tsz-chun were extremely fortunate to escape second yellow cards for clear fouls.

But it was the reluctance of officials to study Ramic’s offence that infuriated Eastern, also aggrieved over a further four handball decisions this season.

A statement on Eastern’s Facebook page said: “This year, the club has encountered several incidents of handball fouls by itself or the other side in the restricted [penalty] area.

“The previous incidents, VAR has been conducting video reviews for fouls. But this time [Ramic handball], the referee team did not make any judgment. This incident seriously affected the credibility of the game and also negatively affected the overall development of the league.”

In response to Eastern’s complaint, Cheung Yim-yau, head of refereeing for the local Football Association said after checking all available video and audio recordings, that Luk and Chow Chun-kit of the VAR team had followed all instructions and protocol in reviewing the controversial handball incident.

“Our VAR team does not think there was a handball, and they do not think the referee on the pitch has committed an obvious mistake by not awarding the foul,” he said. “That was why we didn’t ask referee Ho to proceed with the on-field review.

“If our decision [after reviewing] is consistent with the on-field decision, that is when we run the ‘silent check’.”

Cheung said the rules stated clearly if there were no “clear and obvious errors” or “missing of any serious foul”, there was no need for the VAR team to communicate with the referee on the pitch.

“We will invite Eastern officials to our office in the next day or two to review the video and audio as a proof that the refereeing team had in fact communicated over the said incident,” he added.

VAR was introduced to Hong Kong’s top flight this season. The technology is not used in every game, which has led to questions over integrity of the competition.

Joaquin Tam, the chief executive of the Football Association, said the partial implementation of VAR was fair.

Eastern’s young team are enjoying a promising campaign. They are fourth in the Premier League, with eight wins and four draws from 14 games, and, after losing to Kitchee in the Senior Shield final, will face the same team in an FA Cup semi-final.

Had they beaten Kitchee at the weekend, they would have climbed to third and been only four points behind their opponents in second.

Head coach Roberto Losada’s team spurned some gilt-edged chances to win. The denial of what they felt was a clear penalty, however, prompted Eastern, who cited footage from two media agencies showing Ramic’s alleged offence, to come out fighting.

The club said it had contacted the Football Association and the city’s referees’ panel “about the entire judgment process, VAR, assistant referee, and referee communication process, and we expect a fair, thorough and reasonable explanation.”

Alongside the statement, Eastern also posted a video of incidents where they felt they had been wronged.

A penalty given for handball against centre back Tamirlan Kozubayev, when Eastern led Kitchee 1-0 in the seventh minute of added time in February’s Senior Shield final, was top of the club’s complaints.

They additionally highlighted a penalty Eastern were awarded for handball against Southern that was overturned, and harshlooking handball penalties conceded against Lee Man and BC Rangers last month.

Following the Ramic controversy, Eastern centre back Leon Jones tagged the Hong Kong Premier League in a social media post, where he captioned a picture of the incident with the word “abysmal”.

This incident ... also negatively affected the overall development of the league EASTERN CLUB STATEMENT