Referees Suspended for Error on Penalty in Premier League Semifinal

Two referees have been suspended from officiating football games in Belize. The B.D.F. Football Club has filed a protest against a decision made in a most recent match of the Premier League of Belize, where they claim a call made by referees Wendel Esquiliano and Christopher Reid cost them the opportunity to advance to the playoffs in the Premier League of Belize football tournament. Even though by football regulations, the decision made by a referee is final in every match, a review of the footage did not sit well with the executive of the Football Federation of Belize. As such, both Reid and Esquiliano have been suspended until a decision by the disciplinary committee of the F.F.B. determines what sanction to impose against them.  F.F.B. President Sergio Chuc says that there was a misinterpretation of the laws of the game.

Sergio Chuc

Sergio Chuc, President, F.F.B.

“There is a process that we need to follow. I don’t want to get into the back and forth and get emotional about it. I know that I personally have reviewed the footage of the game—I was watching the game live and I’ve reviewed the footage; it’s online for everybody to see—and yes there was a grave misinterpretation of the laws of the game by Mister Reid. The laws are clear at that penalty should have been retaken.”

Duane Moody

“It almost puts a black eye on referees in general…”

Sergio Chuc

“Yeah, it is very unfortunate that Reid was not abreast with that part of the regulation; it is very, very unfortunate. And what the federation has done is because we recognize the gravity of the situation in not strictly applying the laws of the game, so the executive of the federation took a decision to suspend Mister Reid and Mister Esquiliano from any of the F.F.B. competitions until the disciplinary committee could meet and put the proper sanction for not following the laws of the game. So it is a suspension from all tournaments at this point and when the disciplinary board meets, they will decide what is the proper sanction for Mister Reid and Mister Esquiliano because the footage shows that the call was actually done by Mister Esquiliano and Mister Reid just followed up as central referee. But as the center referee, Mister Reid also had the final say because if he would have been cognizant of the laws of the game, then he wouldn’t have followed the instructions of Mister Esquiliano.”