It is stupid to kill football with the elementary incompetence of the referee

Press statement of the FC Sfintul Gheorghe honorific president, Mr. Valeriu Renita

Yesterday's match held on the FC Sfintul Gheorghe Stadium in Suruceni is a classic example of how an inexperienced referee can "kill" the game and the show, to see which the supporters and fans are coming to the stadium. The decision to show for the second time on the penalty spot, at the end of the first half led to the third goal in the gate of Vadim Istrati, our goal-kipper. This decision was not only arguable, but totally incompetent - fact mentioned by specialists present on the game. It is hard to imagine what was going on in Ruslan Muntean's head (referee) and what emotions were influencing his decisions, because in a moment he shown a red card to our player, but then was reminded that the player had no yellow card before, and that a red one is unacceptable.

The psychological trauma from the second penalty did not kill our team, it has continued to play interesting football - fact proved by everybody who was present on the match. But some players did not recover from the shock - our boys are very young (middle age of players is a little beyond 21), and as a result we lost with a big score.

The management of the team had not decided yet about a written protest put on the table of the Football Federation of Moldova. We are aware that this will not influence the result of the game. Certain people warned us several times that there is no sense in quarrelling with the referees - even dangerous. Because each quarrel can become a weapon against us. As in the case of each "caste". But I know for sure that a lot of experienced referees, even from those who made part of the brigade to that match, will give Muntean a very fair note - which he deserves for his performance in Suruceni.

Three years ago, the owner of the Rapid Ghidighici, Victor Ostap, pulled out all his teams from the Moldovan Championship, as a protest against the lawlessness of the referees - during a match, he has thrown a cell-phone in one of the referee's. After one year he admitted he was sorry for his deed, and asked the Federation to accept his team for participation in the event. When reading his statement, I understood that Victor is sorry for the fact he could not do anything to fight the incompetence of the referees. Today I may say that even if I do not approve Victor's methods of protest, I understand him perfectly.

I hope that the refereeing I have described in my statement, which has upset the fans and the experts, will be a good lesson for all of us.