However it was the reluctance of officers to review Ramic’s offence that infuriated Japanese, who stated they have been aggrieved over an additional 4 handball selections this season.
A press release revealed on Japanese’s Fb web page learn: “This yr, the membership has encountered a number of incidents of handball fouls by itself or the opposite facet within the restricted [penalty] space.
“The earlier incidents, VAR has been conducting video opinions for fouls. However this time [Ramic handball], the referee crew didn’t make any judgment. This incident critically affected the credibility of the sport and in addition negatively affected the general improvement of the league.”
In response to Japanese’s grievance, Cheung Yim-yau, head of refereeing on the Soccer Affiliation of Hong Kong, China, confirmed, after checking all obtainable video and audio recordings, that Luk Kin-sun and Chow Chun-kit of the VAR crew had adopted all of the directions and protocol in reviewing the controversial handball incident.
“Our VAR crew doesn’t suppose there was a handball, and they don’t suppose the referee on the pitch has dedicated an apparent mistake by not awarding the foul,” he stated. “That was why we didn’t ask referee Ho to proceed with the on area overview.
“If our choice [after reviewing] is in keeping with the on-field choice, that’s after we run the ‘silent test’.”
Cheung stated the principles said clearly if there have been no “clear and apparent errors” or “lacking of any critical foul,” there was no want for the VAR crew to speak with the referee on the pitch.
“We are going to invite Japanese officers to our workplace within the subsequent day or two to overview the video and audio as a proof that the refereeing crew had the truth is communicated over the stated incident,” he added.
VAR was launched to Hong Kong’s top-flight this season. The expertise is just not utilized in each sport, which has led to questions over the integrity of the competitors.
Japanese’s younger crew are having fun with a promising marketing campaign. They’re fourth within the Premier League, with eight wins and 4 attracts from 14 video games, and, after shedding to Kitchee within the Senior Protect closing, will face the identical crew in an FA Cup semi-final.
Had they overwhelmed Kitchee on the weekend, they might have climbed to 3rd, solely 4 factors behind their opponents in second.
Head coach Roberto Losada’s crew spurned a handful of gilt-edged probabilities to win. The denial of what they felt was a transparent penalty, nevertheless, prompted Japanese, who cited footage from two media companies displaying Ramic’s alleged offence, to come back out combating.
The membership stated it had contacted each the Soccer Affiliation of Hong Kong, China, and town’s referees’ panel “about your entire judgment course of, VAR, assistant referee, and referee communication course of, and we count on a good, thorough and affordable clarification on this matter.”
Japanese’s assertion continued: “The rule of successful and shedding in sports activities is meant to be that the higher crew wins. If the outcomes of the competitors have been influenced by different human lack of professionalism, we might be deeply upset and regretful.”
Alongside the assertion, Japanese additionally posted a video of incidents the place they felt wronged.
A penalty given for handball in opposition to centre-back Tamirlan Kozubayev, when Japanese led Kitchee 1-0 within the seventh minute of added time in February’s Senior Protect closing, was high of the membership’s complaints.
They moreover highlighted a penalty Japanese have been awarded for handball in opposition to Southern that was overturned, and harsh-looking handball penalties conceded in opposition to Lee Man and BC Rangers final month.
Following the Ramic controversy, Japanese centre-back Leon Jones tagged the Hong Kong Premier League in a social media publish, the place he captioned an image of the incident with the phrase “abysmal.”
Marcos Gondra, the Japanese midfielder, responded to a publish on X, previously Twitter, querying the choices to permit Helio and Legislation to remain on the sphere, with the identical picture of the ball hitting Ramic’s arm, and the phrases, “And the place is that this one? The penalty my good friend. We misplaced a Senior Protect closing and a pair of factors vs Lee Man with [the] similar conditions”.
