When you play against 12…

Santosh Kumar, as we all know, has been an anti-Eastbengal referee since his initial days of refereeing. In poorly developed infrastructure and below quality football matches, refereeing flaws weren’t given much importance earlier but in a stage like Indian Super League, can refereeing flaws really be ignored by teams and fans? Or must there be any amendments in the procedure of appointing referees? 

In this article, we present you three crucial penalties (with evidence) that were seemingly intentionally overlooked by the referee in the previous game that cost us the match.

Maghoma Incident

In the 20^th minute Narayan Das made a run from the left flank which was well spotted by Maghoma who made space for himself in the middle. The pass from Das was received well by the Congolese who busted forward inside the box, only to get clipped by a North East defender. Although the clipping was not so harsh, yet an off the ball contact must have fetched a penalty. Santosh Kumar was sleeping like a van winkle.

The Hand-ball

Already under the pressure of equalising a goal, the Red and Gold brigade started pouring attacks after attacks in the second half, which gave us a corner in the 60^th minute. Maghoma curled in the ball and after a series of  ricochet, fell onto the boots of Pilkington who blasted a shot on target. The ball clearly rebounded from the hands of a North East player, although it seemed the referee allowed the Highlanders to use even hands while playing. Another clear penalty denied.

Boot-on-chest

In the 81^st minute, a cross from the right flank was partially cleared by the North East defence, before the ball fell in front of our skipper. The height of the ball urged Pilkington to head it, only when a North East player used high boots to kick on the chest of Pilkington. At once Pilkington was on the ground but where was Santosh Kumar? Probably enjoying his lack of judgement and personal grudge against this Bengal club!

Earlier the ISL committee used to bring Foreigner referees who with their experience and “no personal ego” used to control matches in an unbiased way. But with inclusion of such inexperienced, unprofessional referees like the one yesterday, development of Indian Football lies miles away from what is desired. Still the way East Bengal played showed our Gaffer and players are really putting up nice work in the training. Let’s keep fingers crossed, and keep supporting our club. Joy EastBengal.

Feature Image Source: SC East Bengal Twitter