New Delhi: Though handball interpretation is very “differently understood”, the All India Football Federation’s Chief Refereeing Officer Trevor Kettle found no fault in Ramachandran Venkatesh’s decision to wave off East Bengal’s claims of a penalty in their Kolkata Derby loss to Mohun Bagan.
East Bengal rued that judgement call, made towards the end of first half as Apuia handled PV Vishnu’s goal-bound shot inside the penalty box, believing they are being viewed as a ‘small club’ and are deliberately wronged as they went down 0-1 in Guwahati, filing yet another complaint with the AIFF.
But Kettle poured cold water over East Bengal’s claims, explaining why Venkatesh was right in signalling ‘play-on’ instead of pointing to the spot.
“Handball interpretation is very difficult and subjective. Ball hitting the arm is not an offence. I had given clear direction to referees what I wanted to implement regarding handball,” Kettle said in a virtual media interaction on Monday.
“When the ball strikes the hand, was it in a justified position for the action of the player? If it’s justified, then it’s not handball. If it isn’t justified, then it’s handball.
“No it (Apuia’s incident) was not handball. The player’s arm was in a justified position, in a normal position. The player tried to withdraw the arm and there was no deliberate attempt to stop the ball with hand.”
Another day, another shocker! Genuine handball penalty denied to East Bengal. 👏 When will these officiating blunders stop? Fans deserve better, and so does the team. 😤⚽ #EastBengal #KolkataDerby #IndianFootball @SayanSarkar62 pic.twitter.com/OmX2ZvuOEQ
— Indian Food And Football (@IndFoodFootball) January 11, 2025
His key match incident review panel colleagues were also unanimous in their judgement of not viewing it as a handball, Kettle claimed.
The Englishman’s clarification would undoubtedly incense East Bengal who have been determined in thinking that there is some motivated foul play against them.
The former English Premier League assistant referee downplayed such claims, saying: “The integrity of our referees is intact. There is no deliberate action to favour or harm any team.”
Demand for VAR
Almost all clubs have suffered from questionable refereeing decisions in the ongoing Indian Super League with Punjab FC demanding the implementation of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to reduce supervisory mistakes, though the AIFF is yet to respond to that request.
The federation and its marketing partners Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), who organises the ISL, have been briefed about VAR nearly a year ago but high costs remain an impediment in introducing the technology in Indian football.
Inexperience in handling VAR dissuades the Asian Football Confederation from considering Indian referees for high-profile assignments like the Asian Cup and AFC Champions League Elite.
Since no plans of its implementation is on the anvil, Indian referees have to improve on their own, which they have accoding to Kettle, making 82.5% accurate key match decisions without the aid of VAR, up from 72% when he joined in October 2022.
“There is no interest in hiring foreign referees. We believe in the talent and potential of our officials. Instead of importing expertise, we are focused on developing our own,” he said, when asked if the AIFF is mulling any exchange programme to improve standards.
AIFF’s chief refereeing officer Trevor Kettle explained why Ramachandran Venkatesh didn’t point to the spot when a goal bound shot from East Bengal’s PV Vishnu struck the hand of Mohun Bagan’s Apuia in the ISL derby. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
