The Football Association of Singapore has admitted that the video assistant referee system which was deployed for the Singapore Cup match between Tanjong Pagar United and Hougang United on 25 September failed when it was required for a review of an incident which happened in the 85th minute.
The incident took place in the 84th minute when Hougang’s Hazzuwan Halim was given a taste of Jaguars custodian Kenji Rusydi’s boot in the box.
When referee Clarence Leow went over to the VAR terminal to review the incident, it appeared that he could not see the feed.
He subsequently went back into the field, called both sets of players, and then relayed his decision.
Hougang United coach Marko Kraljevic appeared to be in the dark, and told the Straits Times, “I don’t know what actually happened, I was not given any explanation.
“I only heard (Leow) talk to the players.
“What I overheard was that the VAR wasn’t working.”
In the video which is available on Mediacorp’s MeWatch, he is livid.
FAS Lead (Content and Production) Abhishek Ravikrishnan confirmed the failure of the system in which Hougang was clearly robbed of a penalty decision.
“The monitor screen located within the Referee Review Area (RRA) in Jurong East Stadium had experienced a loss in signal for the video feed from the Video Operator Room in Jalan Besar Stadium,” he told the Straits Times.
“This signal loss resulted in the referee being unable to view the specific incident on the RRA monitor and, hence, he maintained his decision to award a corner.”
FAS director of referees Nazeer Hussain said that in the event of a system malfunction, “both competing teams will be promptly notified, and the match will continue without VAR intervention, following normal procedures”, meaning the referee will have to make a final call.
“(The signal loss) resulted in the referee being unable to conduct a video review of this incident,” he said.”
Consequently, the referee upheld the initial decision to award a corner.”
Nazeer said that he will reach out to Hougang personally, even though the result will not be invalidated.
“I regret that this incident has had an unfavourable impact on Hougang United with regard to the outcome of the match, and I will be reaching out to Hougang personally,” he said.
The FAS did not add any of this match drama and controversy to the highlights video of the match which was posted on its Youtube channel.
The match ended with Tanjong Pagar securing a 2-1 win with the all-important winner being scored deep into time added on, which made matters worse for Hougang United.
MAIN PHOTO: YOUTUBE