Selangor-Pahang match official suspended for two weeks: Subkhiddin

PETALING JAYA: The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has suspended a match official for two weeks after he was found to have made an inaccurate decision while officiating a Super League match between Selangor and Pahang at the Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium in Cheras on Saturday.
FAM Referees Committee chairman Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh said the committee came to the decision after obtaining a report from a referee evaluator finding that the referee from Johor had negligently made an inaccurate decision which affected the quality of refereeing.
"The referee and assistant referee failed to make an accurate decision as expected, that is (the incident occurred) outside the penalty area but, instead gave wrong information, so action needs to be taken.
"We also evaluated their performance throughout the match, and we found that the referee was not fit to referee the game," he said at the committee's monthly press conference in Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya here today.
Last Saturday, the referee reportedly awarded a penalty kick to Pahang in the 69th minute after a Selangor player was alleged to have handled the ball in the penalty area. However, Selangor players objected to the decision, claiming the player committed the offence outside the penalty area.
Pahang won the match 3-1.
Subkhiddin said four referees in the Malaysian League (Super League and Premier League) had been subjected to various disciplinary action by FAM after making wrong decisions in matches, with punishments such as a warning, two-week suspension or being demoted to a lower league.
In a separate development, Subkhiddin, who is also former International Football Federation accredited referee said FAM had outlined several programmes this year in an effort to increase the number of referees from the current line-up of 236 personnel, including Projek Gemilang Pengadil I and II, Women Referee Course, Youth Referee Academy, as well as having annual referees' seminars and referee evaluators.
He added the FAM was looking to add personnel due to the high demand in several footballing competitions in the country, including the Malaysian League, FAM Cup, Youth Cup, People's Football League and Education Ministry Cup. — Bernama