FA Cup: FAM aspire to use import referees

PETALING JAYA, July 3 (Bernama) -- The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) today refuted claims that it did not make any effort to bring in professional referees from abroad for the final 2019 FA Cup match between Perak and Kedah at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium on July 27.

FAM secretary general Stuart Ramalingam announced that FAM had taken early measures by sending application letters to three countries - Japan, Australia and Thailand - last May, to look at the potentials and level of readiness of the referees in the three countries.

He said that only referees having the best refereeing qualities from among the three countries would be picked to handle the final match.

‘’I deny that FAM have not made any effort yet to bring in referees from outside for the FA Cup match later. FAM have communicated with and sent applications to the three countries to ensure the availability of foreign referees for the final of the FA Cup.

‘’But FAM have not received feedback from the three countries because they (the parent football bodies of the three countries) have not yet decided on who (referees) to list as their league competitions are still going on,’’ he said when met at Wisma FAM here today.

Yesterday, Malaysian Football League (MFL) chief operations officer Mohd Shazli Shaik Mohd, after chairing the 2019 FA Cup Final Organising Committee Meeting, confirmed that the services of professional referees from abroad would not be used at the final action in question. 

Commenting further, Stuart stressed that FAM would ensure that the selected referees would have the best qualifications in the effort to meet the aspiration of local football fans who wanted to see quality refereeing for a high intensity match in the country.

‘’We want the referees who are to be called up to contribute something positive to the FA Cup final. We will not just accept a name without conducting a detailed evaluation and agreement on the levels of quality of the referees in question.

‘’Not necessarily when we talk about referees from Japan, Australia and Thailand, they (three countries) are all the best and have advantages over local referees,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, FAM Referee Committee chairman Md Dali Wahid said that the announcement which was made by Mohd Shazli was due to a misunderstanding.

‘’During the meeting yesterday, we have not yet received any answer from the three countries, maybe it could have resulted in the misunderstanding,’’ he explained.

-- BERNAMA