How unfortunate a club can be? Ask Renown SC.
Two of the last three seasons Renown, have been second best in the Dialog Champions League. In 2013 they lost 1-0 to Air Force in the final. In 2015 they missed on the championship by a single goal.
This season they did everything correct in the business end that is the Super 8 stage. They were the only unbeaten side in the Super 8’s, scoring goals at will and with a strong back four they became the side everyone feared.
In a must win match in the final week they bounced back from being 3-1 down to win the match 5-4. Colombo FC would eventually win the championship after a 2-0 win in the late kick-off.
Colombo FC and Renown were tied on 17 points at the end but since Colombo had a better goal difference than Renown, Colombo had +10 to Renown’s +9, and they walked away with the championship.
It would have been all different had referee Lakmal Weerakkody allowed the late goal by Mohamed Rizni to stand against Air Force, where the match ended in a goalless draw in week of the Super 8 stage.
This was a controversial decision as the video suggest, there was no foul committed by Rizni nor Emmanuel Ojinkeya.
It was still goalless till the end of 90 minutes, but there was twist in the tale. In the two added minutes of injury time Renown managed to break the shackles through Mohamed Rizni who headed the ball in from cross by Prasad Yogaraja.
But that goal was disallowed by the referee Lakmal Weerakkody leaving the players and crowd unhappy.
Related Coverage;
Disallowed goal frustrates Renown against Air Force
Had the goal stood, Renown would have won with three points and they would have won the Champions League.
Referee Weerakkody had a bad game. However what is dubious is that this is the same referee who had a horrendous game when these two sides met in the group stage a few weeks prior, when Air Force won 2-0.
Related Coverage;
Poor refereeing; Federation doesn’t take action says Raheem and Amanullah
ThePapare.com pointed out the numerous errors made by the referee but the Football Federation had knowingly or unknowingly allocated the match in the Super 8 to the same referee.
In the group stage match the two coaches, Mohamed Amanullah (Renown) and Tuwan Raheem (Air Force) had voiced their displeasure and in the Super 8 encounter too Raheem had this to say,
“I’m disappointed with the decisions which were made out on the field. I mean anyone would understand the referee was doing a pretty bad job. That final goal should have being awarded for them (Renown).
“If our referees can go abroad for other leagues why can’t we get quality referees from outside the country? Federation’s actions are questionable even regarding these matches being played for two days.”
It is high time the Football Federation of Sri Lanka look into the referees and their performances, with video footage now available it will be an easier task to correcting and producing high quality referees in the future; because referees are an integral part and can decide the winner or loser in a matter of a second.
In this instance it was the Champions League.
