We respect fair game: Marahare

BY TAROMANE MARTIN

KOSSA FC Head Coach Eddie Marahare says they respect the decisions made by match officials on the pitch but will not respect decisions that seems biased.

Marahare made the comments in response to Solomon Islands Football Federation Referee’s Development Officer, Justin Mutukera call for players and officials to respect match officials decisions during games.

Mutukera made the call after Marahare blamed match referee George Time for playing a part in demoralizing his players during their 4-1 semifinal defeat to Solomon Warriors FC last week.

“If the coaches and players want to improve the game then they must also start learn to respect the match official’s decisions,” Mr Mutukera told SunSPORTS on Sunday.

“The Referees Decision is always final according to the Laws of the Game in any game.

“It is true to say referees sometimes make mistakes But we cannot avoid mistakes. Referees make mistakes, player’s makes mistakes, and coaches make mistakes.

“That is the thing that we all want to minimize or avoid and develop on the game of Football to improve. Even in the Top Level football Competitions Match Officials cannot avoid making mistakes.

“That’s why FIFA wants to introduce Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) in this coming 2018 World Cup in Russia.

“Referees are part of the level of improvement of playing football in this country and therefore I am calling for respect to all of us involving in developing the game we all Love,” the development officer said.

But Coach Marahare said while their club have and are always supportive towards football referees in the country it is time for them to also accept criticism, mistakes so they can improve their performances.

“As a club we respect his call but to call for respect when the referee’s decision is ninety percent wrong then they should accept criticism and work on improving,” he told SunSPORTS yesterday.

“We can respect decisions which are fair. But when the decision is obvious and goes against you 90 percent of the time then we can’t respect them.

“Players and officials all understand that during the 90 minutes the ref’s decision is final. But if the decisions are biased then we cannot respect it, after the 90 minutes, because we also want the referee’s performances to improve and be fair.

“As a team we never made any official protest or complaint about the referee’s decision against Warriors so I don’t see why he should call for everyone to respect the decisions,” he said.

Marahare said while it is true we have no video technology for the TSL he believes there are ways match officials can improve their performances.

“I think referees should start by trying to accept their mistakes, criticism and move forward. There are a lot of excellent referees here but it is only a few that needs to improve their game.

“We are happy to work with referees on these areas to help it improve because like I said we only want a fair game, consistency from officials,” he said.

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