Son of a B****: Players, Manager suspended for verbally abusing referee in local game

What's the story?

The next time you hurl an expletive at the referee, calling him a son of a b**** or something worse, you will surely be looking at a match suspension.

That's what happened to Anthony J and Ashok Kumar, two footballers playing in ADE, a Super Division team in the Bangalore District Football Association. Both of them were suspended for two and three matches respectively for verbally abusing the referee during ADE's game against Students Union in the BDFA Super Division, the premier league (top flight league) in Bengaluru.

What's interesting is that the federation has strangely listed out the expletives used by the players in a letter which was sent to the team.

The BDFA also suspended the team manager, D Umapathy, from sitting at the dugout for three games for dissent.

For a similar incident, Young Challengers FC coach Gopal and manager Ramesh were handed three-game bans for misbehaving with the referee after a game against RWF in the A Division, the second-tier league.

In case you didn't know...

According to the rules of football, a player can be cautioned by the referee if he's guilty of unsporting behaviour, dissent by word or action, or entering the referee review area.

Even a substitute or team official is expected to maintain decorum and keep his cool during and after the game.

Heart of the matter

Anthony, a defender for ADE, was sent off after being booked twice in the game. He earned himself a yellow when he made a rash tackle on an opposition player in the 80th minute of the game and five minutes later, he was given the marching orders for intentionally handling the ball and stopping the player.

Anthony didn't take his sending off well. While exiting the pitch, he called the referee a 'G****' and even issued a threat.

ADE somehow equalised in the first minute of injury time but went on to lose the game as Students Union came up with a last-gasp winner.

This angered the team manager and another reserve player as well, who blamed the referee for reducing his team to 10 men.

Umapathy, a former player for Karnataka, and Ashok Kumar, a reserve goalkeeper, confronted the referee after the game.

"Soon after the closure of the match, the manager of the team, senior state player, namely D Umapathy, went inside the field of play, started abusing the coming out (sic) official referees invulgar and filthy language as 'M****' (pube), 'Naura c***** pulle' (Son of a B****) etc, which was unwanted and unwarranted.

"Added to this, not enough, Mr Ashok Kumar a goalkeeper, rushed out of gallery abused in vulgar and filthy language as 'G****' (A******), 'The****** pulle' (Son of a B****) and was about to manhandle them," the BDFA wrote in a letter to ADE, sanctioning the suspension.

The

BDFA's

suspension letter to ADE, Young Challengers

The BDFA then handed Anthony a two-game ban, Ashok for three and Umapathy a three-game touchline ban.

"Many officials of KSFA, BDFA, Referees Board, the clubs and soccer lovers too were the witnesses for such ugly and unholy happenings and passed their dissent notes and observations," the letter added

Conclusion

Verbally abusing the referee is a common occurrence in Indian football these days. Players are expected to keep their cool if decisions go against them. They are also expected to treat the referee with respect and debate a decision in a decent manner.

The referees too have to adhere to the laws of the game and not favour a team in handing out cards and decisions. The referees' association too must ensure that the complaints of various clubs alleging referee bias are looked into.