"It was a bad call," Korean referee issues half-hearted apology, filled with excuses... Who will reclaim the lost victory?

*This content was translated by AI.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) admitted its error through a post-match briefing and bowed its head. However, it completely ignored the core issues that turned the actual scene into chaos and angered football fans, instead rushing to refute and make excuses with interpretations of rules that suited its own interests.

During a briefing on the 4th, the KFA acknowledged that there was an obvious missed penalty kick in the situation during the second half, 11th minute of the match between Suwon Samsung and Cheongju FC on the 1st. Despite Hais of Suwon being struck in the face by an opposing defender unrelated to ball play, neither the referee nor even the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) deemed it a "natural action" and let it pass. Although an apology was issued belatedly, the KFA effectively admitted that it made a critical misjudgment at a moment when three points were at stake.

However, this briefing deliberately ignored the suspicions and core issues that arose on the field.

Especially representative is the situation of the equalizing goal by Dubitskas being disallowed just before the end of the match. The KFA explained that "the referee initially recognized the goal but declared an attacking foul with the cooperation of a field official." However, no evidence was found in any broadcast footage or on-site video showing the assistant referee or fourth official raising their flag or calling a foul immediately after the referee's initial recognition of the goal. There was not even a specific explanation as to which field official the referee cooperated with to suddenly disallow the goal he had clearly recognized at first.

Furthermore, the KFA's defense against claims of VAR's uselessness was close to sophistry. The association explained that "the attacker's pushing foul was obvious, and VAR did not intervene because it matched the referee's decision." This claim asserts that the reason no on-field review was conducted was not because VAR was not checked, but because the decisions were the same.

However, this is merely an excuse to justify poor game management and a lack of communication. Immediately after the goal was disallowed due to an unconvincing attacking foul, the final whistle was blown without delay. The VAR system, introduced with massive budgets to guarantee fairness, failed entirely to serve as a channel for communication or a final verification device at the most dramatic moment when the match outcome hung in the balance. Even though the refereeing team rushed to end the game while blocking all communication, the post-match briefing merely granted itself absolution by claiming it "complied with protocol."

The KFA also remained silent regarding the referee's absurd behavior that occurred after the match. When the Suwon squad, frustrated at having unfairly lost three points, became agitated, club officials intervened directly to prevent any incidents. They then politely asked the refereeing team, "Shouldn't you explain something to the players?" but were met with an immediate red card from the referee.

Although the expulsion of the club officials carries no disciplinary effect and did not lead to actual sanctions, the authoritarian and uncommunicative behavior displayed on the field sparked major controversy across the entire K League. Nevertheless, the KFA omitted even a minimal explanation or apology regarding this matter in its briefing.

Despite overturning the course of the match with a critical error, the post-match briefing merely listed rebuttals claiming "there were no procedural issues" by using technical regulations as a shield. Unless the arrogant attitude of the refereeing team, which seeks to suppress on-field voices through rule interpretations while quietly concealing administrative and operational errors that became controversial even amid the resignation of Shim Pan-wi (Director), changes, distrust toward Korean football referees is expected to never fade away.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.