The Sunday News
In a bizarre incident, an African referee raised eyebrows as he strangely disallowed a goal after watching a replay on a spectator’s mobile phone.
With no Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in the league, the match official felt he had to cross the Rubicon to make the right decision.
VAR has been used in big international tournaments and leagues such as the Premier League and La Liga.
However, at club level on the African continent, many countries are still behind as VAR is not in use, including in the DStv Premiership.
As things stand, Morocco and Egypt are the two African countries that have implemented VAR in their respective Premier Divisions.
In addition, CAF also introduced the Video Assistant Referee at AFCON and CAF Champions League to improve the poor state of refereeing on the continent.
gyptian referee Mohamed Farouk was suspended indefinitely by the Egyptian Football Association on Wednesday.
This comes after the referee grabbed a fan’s phone to watch a replay of a goal during a game between Al Nasr and Suez in the Egyptian second-tier league last Friday, March 17.
Farouk opted to use a phone after the hosts, Suez had argued that the goal can’t stand as an Al Nasr player had used his hand to score.
After several minutes on the touchline, reviewing the video on a fan’s phone, Farouk overturned the goal decision.
Suez eventually won the game 3-1 after the referee added 15 minutes of stoppage time.
Farouk and the rest of the match officials had to be escorted down the tunnel as Nasr fans and players were fuming at them for the disallowed goal.
According to reports, Nasr officials said that they will be taking legal action against the referee as his action violated the regulations.
Furthermore, in a statement, the Egyptian FA stated that the head of the Referees Committee, Vitor Pereira suspended Farouk and his assistants on the day for an “indefinite period.”
“The committee decided to investigate the incident when Mohamed Farouk, the referee of the match, used a mobile phone to review one of the footage of the match’s events,” the Egyptian FA said.-Farpost
