JEDDAH, 10 December 2006 — Prince Sultan ibn Fahd, president of the Saudi Youth Welfare Presidency and president of the Saudi Football Federation, expressed his regret over the rash of refereeing mistakes during the Al-Hilal vs. Al-Nasr and Al-Hilal vs. Al-Ahli matches.
These blatant mistakes, which ended up giving the match to Hilal on both the occasions, triggered an uproar among football fans, who threw objects at the referees and burned papers and small objects at the stadium. Most of these incidents were, however, minor. But the fans anger spilled outside the stadium as they vented their ire on parked cars.
“The Youth Welfare Presidency is keen on preserving fair play in the competition among all clubs. The presidency is also keen on doing away any negative effects or acts inside or outside our stadiums. Such actions, off late, have come as a result of referee’s mistakes leading to destruction of property and private cars.”
In order to avoid such things, the Presidency has decided the following:
First, the football development committee will start studying the reasons behind poor refereeing in these two matches and in other matches and will write a report and its recommendations on how to improve the performance of Saudi referees.
Second, the Presidency will contact FIFA officials to nominate a retired international referee with experience to work in the Kingdom and to benefit from his experience.
Third, Prince Sultan ordered the hiring of international referees to officiate important games including semifinals and final.
Fourth, the Saudi Football Federation, based on the report submitted by the referee’s committee, has suspended the referee who officiated in the Ahli vs. Hilal match for one year, effective today.
Fifth, Ahli will have to play one match outside Jeddah because of their fans’ behavior at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium.
Finally, Prince Sultan thanked Ahli officials for keeping their cool during the game and not issuing irrational statements after the match.
