East Asian Games 2009 Football Final Japan v HK 2nd Half 2 Cautions Increased Tension
HKRef advocates Optimum Officiating. Unfortunately, these two incidents demonstrate that the Referee's officiating did not help in managing the players during the tense gold-medal match.
In the first incident, Japan player #16 survives a fair charge by HK player #16. However, the Referee does not allow play to continue. This causes Japan player #10 to react with anger, be abusive and raise his finger at the Referee. The Referee correctly cautions Japan #10 for dissent.
In the second incident, HK player #16 fouls Japan player #20 and the Referee correctly cautions #16 for a reckless challenge. However, the Referee fails to identify signs of trouble that occur right in front of him, and therefore does not take any preventive measures. First, Japan #20 is angry at HK #16 and stands over him. HK #8 then comes and pushes Japan #20 away. Japan #16 is also angry at HK#16 (for his earlier charge, in the first incident) and also stands over him. But HK #7 comes and pushes Japan #16, and then intimidates him continuously (perhaps because HK #7 knows he is bigger than the smaller Japan #16). Mass confrontation ensues. Eventually, the AR does a good job by coming to help manage the situation. The Referee did not see these actions by the players (that occurred right in front of him) and therefore did not caution any other players. Also, the Referee did not ask the AR for what he may have observed.
East Asian Games 2009 Football Final Japan v HK Penalty Shootout Best View
HK soccer 'needs to strengthen grass roots' (South China Morning Post, )
In the East Asian Games, Japan and North Korea sent their under-20 and under-23 squads, while South Korea comprised mostly second-division players.
"In the final, Au Yeung [Yiu-chung], the under-23 Hong Kong captain, missed the first penalty kick, followed by the four seniors who scored. It was the same story in the semi-final against North Korea," said Kitchee boss Ken Ng Kin who is also a senior official with the Hong Kong Football Association.
The grass roots of the game still doesn't have a firm foundation, and this is what worries Ng.
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