Hooliganism and indiscipline reared its ugly face at Buckhurst Park this afternoon when disgruntled Dreketi soccer players and officials vented their anger and attacked Fiji Football referees following their 1-0 loss to Tailevu Naitasiri in the final of the Premier division National Soccer League.

With less than five minutes remaining on the clock, Tailevu Naitasiri was awarded a controversial penalty after assistant referee Kritesh Prasad picked a hand ball offence by a Dreketi defender inside his penalty box.

The call wasn’t taken well by the officials and players of Dreketi as they argued that the player in question Sanjeev Kumar had not used his hand while trying to clear the ball as he had no sort of pressure on him.

After the final whistle Kumar, his fellow officials and fans attacked Prasad and verbally abused the match officials for favoring T/Naitasiri and awarding them with the penalty.

Dreketi president Ami Chand claimed they were treated unfairly by the match officials and remained adamant the penalty awarded should not have been given.

“We have been robbed and are just too frustrated with the call of the assistant referee as his call was untimely and unfair, said a disappointed Chand.

“The match officials have once again victimized us as they had favored the same Tailevu Naitasiri side in the semifinal of the IDC also where our clear goals were ruled offside.

“We spent so much time and money for this match and do not deserve to be treated in this manner.

“We cannot anything although we have been cheated against as the referee’s decision is always considered final.

Chand when questioned about the incident after the match said he had no control over fans, players and officials and said the security personnel at the venue and the match officials should have been more alert as the match was a tensed one.

Former Rewa rep Taufiq Ahmed nodded in the penalty to give Tailevu Naitasiri the Premier League title and a chance to play bottomed placed super premier district, Nadroga in the Promotion Relegation series.

Tailevu Naitasiri president Sandeep Roy was overjoyed with the victory and said their focus would now shift to the matches with Nadroga.

‘I want to congratulate the boys for the fine effort and we will certainly prepare well to take on Nadroga as premier districts have always found it difficult to beat the bottom placed super premier districts, he said.

The home and away series of the Promotion Relegation will be played next month.

Fijilive

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