PUNE, April 22: `To Err is human' they say and so was the case with referee Ashokan A K who has been officiating the matches under strict observance of football rules. This time doing the duty of the table referee, he did commit a faux pas. Kirkeeans entered the ground with nine players and ironically their think tank just wrote the names of the players playing leaving the 10th and the 11th places vacant. And instead they made it a point to write the names of two substitutes.Fifteen minutes into the game the 10th player entered the field whose name did not figure in the playing eleven but was mentioned in the substitutes list. Rules disallow such additions, while all this happened with referee Ashokan holding the players list all the while in the chair has table referee!
Timings: The habit of teams reporting late for the first match is becoming usual practice. The first match kicks off nearly an hour late causing considerable delay in starting the second match which finishes at 7.00 p.m. This trend should be avoided and if necessary the officials, assuming that they themselves arrive on time, should call off the match or award a walkover to the team reporting on time.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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