Police report lodged over alleged assault on referee
Referee Farhad Mohd. Photo: The New Paper
Sazali Abdul Aziz
Thursday, Nov 12, 2015
Geylang International and Hougang United produced a thrilling end to their 2-2 S.League draw played on Monday night at the Bedok Stadium, with both sides scoring their second goal in injury time.
But the fireworks did not end at full-time.
The New Paper has learnt that a Geylang official was involved in an altercation with referee Farhad Mohd and his team of match officials.
According to sources, the Geylang official approached the match officials about 45 minutes after the game, as they were about to leave the stadium.
After a brief verbal exchange, he allegedly threw a punch at Farhad, which did not connect.
The Geylang official then also allegedly thew a second punch, this time at assistant referee Jeffrey Goh, and also missed.
Following the incident, Farhad decided to call the police.
In response to TNP's queries, a police spokesman said yesterday: "Police received a call on Nov 9 at about 10.14pm requesting for assistance at Bedok Stadium.
"Upon police arrival, it was established a dispute had occurred at the said location.
"The complainant was advised on his legal recourse. No further police assistance was required."
It is unclear what led to the dispute but, speaking on the condition of anonymity, one player involved in the match said the referee drew the ire of both sets of players for remarks he made during the match.
In response to TNP's queries, a Football Association of Singapore (FAS) spokesman said the incident is being investigated.
He added: "The FAS has a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of abuse directed towards match officials, both physical and verbal, during or after the match.
"We expect our players and officials to conduct themselves properly and we will take tough action against anyone found guilty of disrespect and/or threatening the safety of others."
Geylang chairman and former national skipper Leong Kok Fann could not be reached for comment yesterday.
