The refs were wrong, says STATHS coach

ST ANDREW Technical High (STATHS) coach Philip Williams says the penalty incident at the end of last Friday’s Walker Cup final at the National Stadium was unfortunate and it denied the school a chance of winning their first senior schoolboy football title in more than three decades.

Williams, who also coaches Portmore United in the Jamaica Premier League, believes the level of officiating in the country is going in the opposite direction to the development of the sport, and insisted that both the referee and fourth official were wrong to order a retake of a penalty kick which had been saved.

After regulation time failed to separate the teams, finalists STATHS and Jamaica College were locked at 6-6 in sudden-death in the penalty shootout.

Zinodean McLean’s initial effort was saved by Jaheim Williams but the ball was judged to have moved on the spot and the JC player retook the kick and converted to make it 7-6. Kevin Hall then missed for STATHS, to hand Jamaica College the trophy.

Former FIFA referee and FIFA instructor Peter Prendergast has come out in support of STATHS’ view that the kick should not have been retaken but Williams doesn’t think much can be done about the error now.

Greater accountability

Still, he thinks there is a need for greater accountability for local referees, as games and coaches’ jobs are lost on bad decisions.

“It is unlikely that anything can be done but that is what we face in Jamaica, the referees are not accountable to anybody.

“Games are lost on bad calls regularly and coaches lose their jobs on bad calls from referees. It is unfortunate but we just have to move on,” Williams said.

Williams is convinced that both officials involved in changing the decision were wrong.

Prendergast was also in full support of that view. He noted that while the ball did move before the kick, it stopped before McLean kicked it. He also pointed out that the incident was no fault of the STATHS team, and that it was unfair that they had to suffer because of McLean’s negligence.

“During the process of him running up, the ball did move. However, it was still on the spot. It moved on the spot. It did not leave the penalty mark,” he stated. “It stopped before he kicked it and that is the important point. So no offence was committed.”

Prendergast also added that the fourth official, who informed the referee of the incident, was out of line, and that it may have been a result of the pressure heaped upon him.

“The fourth official had no business in interfering with the kick because he was not in a position to give an opinion from where he was. He didn’t have the best angle to determine if the ball moved,” Prendergast said.

After suffering their fourth defeat in a schoolboy final to Jamaica College in the last seven years, Williams admitted the players were devastated.

“It has definitely affected the boys. To lose that way in a final is heartbreaking and very hard to take. Hopefully, the youngsters are stronger for it in terms of the eventualities that can happen in sports,” he said

Jamaica College coach Davion Ferguson said it was not how he wanted a final to conclude.

“I didn’t like how it ended. I think that incident kind of marred the final. The referee saw a moving ball and decided to call it back. But we would have rathered not to have that in the game,” he said.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com