The board of directors at Al Masry Club protested against the refereeing decisions during the team's match against Al Ahly which Al Masry lost by a 2-0 score in the sixth round of the Egyptian Premier League on Thursday evening.
The most notable incident in the match was Al Masry's demand for a penalty against Al Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy after he and Masry forward Fakhreddine Ben Youseef came together, which the referee did not grant while Masry were behind 1-0.
Al Masry Club issued an extensive statement as follows:
"The board of directors of Al Masry Club, headed by Mr. Kamel Abou Ali, strongly protests the refereeing decisions of the officiating team in the first football team's match against Al Ahly Club.
The board of directors of Al Masry Club affirms that the mistakes of the refereeing team, led by referee Mahmoud El Banna and VAR referee Abdelaziz El Sayed, undoubtedly contributed to changing the match result by deliberately and suspiciously ignoring two penalty incidents for Al Masry's striker Fakhreddine Ben Youssef during the first half. This deliberate and despicable negligence by both the on-field referee and the VAR referee continues to wrong Al Masry Club, which has repeatedly objected to this referee, who seems, for reasons known only to him, to harbor some kind of animosity against Al Masry Club.
The board of directors of Al Masry wonders: if the same foul committed by Al Ahly's goalkeeper against Al Masry's striker was committed by Al Masry's goalkeeper against Al Ahly's striker, would the decision still have been to continue play? Or would the referee immediately blow his whistle to award a penalty, with the VAR referee intervening to review the incident, which all impartial refereeing experts unanimously agreed was valid? This is as opposed to those whose biases, affiliations, and personal interests dictate their opinions.
The board of directors of Al Masry Club points out that the repetition of such deliberate mistakes completely eliminates any attempts by clubs to compete for local championships, which, as appears obvious, are seemingly controlled by the biases, affiliations, and personal calculations of referees rather than the interests of all clubs.
Through this statement, the board of directors of Al Masry Club is sounding the alarm for all those managing Egyptian football. Any effort to develop Egyptian football will be in vain due to the deliberate refereeing mistakes, which are steering match results in favor of one party over another. This undermines any principle of fair competition and equal opportunities, ultimately leading to increased tensions among fans.
Finally, the board of directors of Al Masry reserves its right to take all measures to protect its material and moral rights at all levels."
Commentaires