'You don’t have to be a genius to see that one is a professional. Why give red card for talking to referees?,' said East Bengal coach Phillippe De Ridder.
From the ugly scenes in the Kolkata League match with Mohammedan Sporting to the red card suspension of Baichung Bhutia in the I League match against Pune FC, East Bengal coach Phillippe De Ridder has blamed it all on the quality of refereeing.
"It all depends on the referee. Something has to be done to increase the level of Indian refereeing," Ridder told reporters here when asked about the red card to Bhutia.
"You don’t have to be a genius to see that one is a professional. Why give red card for talking to referees?" he questioned.
Bhutia had allegedly pushed Pune FC custodian, prompting the referee to issue the East Bengal striker the second yellow card in the last I League encounter. The first was shown for 'excessive appealing'.
Ridder said, "If you don’t increase the level of refereeing, it will take another ten years to improve. I am sure the authorities will do something about it.
"It is becoming more and more important as there is more and more money coming into the game and more fans," he said. Asked about the ugly scenes in the Kolkata League match with Mohammedan Sporting on February 27, the EB coach said, "If you saw the match on ground it was the same problem.
"Similar was the case during our match with Viva Kerala when some of our players had broken noses and bruised knees. You have to take care of your good players."
Towards the end of East Bengal-Mohammedan Sporting match, players of both the teams brawled, spat and gesticulated following which referee Biplab Poddar showed red cards to Alvito d' Cunha and Yga Okpara of East Bengal and Eduardo and Dipankar Roy Mohammedan Sporting.
The Indian Football Association (IFA) is expected to call a meeting of its concerned committee to decide action against players.
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