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Abu Dhabi : A senior UAE Fifa referee accused the coaches of some of the First Division clubs of ignorance of the law of the game as competition to win the title of the etisalat Football League is showing its ugly face.
In the past 10 weeks of the competition, the referees showed 249 players the yellow card, sent off 21 and the players scored 200 goals in 60 matches.
"There are some silly mistakes which the players should not commit like wasting time and other antics such as diving of faking injuries and thus collect unnecessary cards.
"Some of the league coaches need to know the laws and regulations of the game more than their players," Fareed Ali, UAE Fifa referee, said.
The cautioning and sending off were not adequate for the teams, which are expected to commence the UAE Professional League next season as the average is 3.3 goals per match against 4.15 yellow cards and 2.1 red cards per week.
For many years, the local referees were accused for many of over-protecting the players, which at some times were one big disadvantage for the UAE national teams as they were expecting referees to whistle in every physical touch against them.
Fareed, thinks that the number of yellow and red cards is ordinary and says that "It is expected bearing in mind the competition and the enthusiasm of the players to collect the full points of each match.
Other decisions
"There are 249 yellow cards and 21 red but there are other players who should have been cautioned or sent off but the referees, during the matches, took other decisions." Fareed told Gulf News yesterday.
Fareed arrived last week from Malaysia after attending the referees workshop held at Kuala Lumpur by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the elite officials.
"In the Professional League next season, I expect the clubs and the FA to organise workshops to explain the rules and regulations not only to the players, but also to members of the technical staff and the officials."
Fareed denied the accusation that the referees are overprotective. "We always give the advantage, but there are some cases we think are dangerous and should be punished. It is good to protect the stars, but according to the rules and laws of the game.
"The players should realise that professionalism is not only receiving their salaries from their clubs, but they should change their way of living and way of thinking to know that being sent off or cautioned will hinder their teams and the clubs should punish players who collect unnecessary cards by deducting fines from their salaries," Fareed said.
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