Football Association of Malaysia has suspended four match officials that were involved during the Malaysia Cup tie between PKNS FC and Kedah at the Selayang Stadium last weekend.
We broke the entire incident down in a separate article yesterday, to analyse why referee Samsudin Ibrahim’s decision to restart the game should be nullified and it appears that FAM has opted to act swiftly in dealing with the matter.
In a statement that was released by their media department, FAM Secretary-General Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin confirmed that three out of the four match officials have been suspended indefinitely, subject to a future decision, while the other one has been handed a temporary two-week ban.
“FAM – through the Refereeing Committee – has decided to suspend referee Samsudin Ibrahim, assistant referee 1 Busrah Eri as well as the fourth official Khairul Rizal, indefinitely. Assistant referee 2 Asmadi Noor Hasni on the other hand, will only receive a two-week punishment.”
The statement went on to explain that Asmadi was handed a lighter punishment, considering that he was nowhere near to the incident when it happened, though he’s being deemed guilty for not assisting the referee in making the right decision.
As the Kedah players were celebrating their second goal on the 68th minute of the game, referee Samsudin Ibrahim allowed the PKNS players to regroup and restart the game, which resulted in them scoring merely seconds after kick-off. However, the decision is illegitimate considering that two Kedah players were still in PKNS’ half when the game was allowed to restart.
Datuk Hamidin was quick to also reject any notion of intent, pointing out that Samsudin Ibrahim is an experienced referee, and has officiated big matches before, including the 2014 FA Cup final between Felda United and Pahang.
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