Football: Thailand and Singapore at loggerheads over Asean championship fiasco
Posted: 01 February 2007 1248 hrs

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SINGAPORE - Thailand and Singapore were at loggerheads on Thursday after a controversial refereeing decision in the Asean football final first leg saw the Thai team walk off the pitch for 15 minutes.

Thailand said it planned to lodge a protest with the Asean Football Federation (AFF) but Singapore officials said the decision to storm off was wrong.

"What they did was wrong. This was a cup final match," said Singapore's Serbian coach Radojko Avramovic.

"If players walked off the field every time a decision went against them, then many games will be called off before 90 minutes of play."

Football Association of Singapore president Ho Peng Kee added: "Whatever the case is, they should have taken the referee's decision in their stride."

The penalty decision came eight minutes from time with the sides drawing 1-1.

Noh Alam Shah was adjudged by Malaysian referee C. Ravichandran to have been pulled down in the box by Thai centre-back Niweat Siriwong.

But after manhandling the referee, the Thai team trooped off the pitch and refused to return until Asean football officials persuaded them to resume the match after frantic touchline negotiations.

Mustafic Fahrudin converted the spotkick to hand the Singapore a 2-1 victory.

Thailand team manager Thavatchai Sajakul blamed the referee for creating the problem, but acknowledged the walkout could hurt their reputation.

"The referee's poor decision created the problem," he told the Bangkok Post.

"We persuaded the players to go back on, as a walkout would affect the kingdom's reputation and could affect our position as host for the Asian Cup."

Thai coach Chanvit Phalajivin, who refused to comment at his post-match press conference, said they would be complaining to the AFF.

"It was a very poor decision by the referee. We will send a letter of complaint to the Asean Football Federation," he told the Post.

AFF executive secretary Yap Nyim Keong was quoted in Singapore newspapers as saying a decision on whether to punish Thailand would be made after examining the match report.

"We will wait for the report of the match commissioner and then decide if there will be action taken against Thailand," he said.

The return leg is due to be played in Bangkok on Sunday. - AFP/ir