john_kowolski
Well-Known Member
"THE biggest weekend in the history of Australian domestic football will be controlled by four men who have refereed only eight of this season's 80 A-League matches.
Stakes cannot be higher in the final round of the season, with four teams - Queensland, Sydney, Central Coast and Newcastle - locked on 31 points and all having a chance of winning the premiership.
But the marquee round will not include Australia's four leading whistleblowers in Mark Shield, Matthew Breeze, Peter Green and Ben Williams, who will be in Kuala Lumpur for a compulsory Asian Football Confederation referees' course.
Also unavailable are the two referees arguably considered the next best options - Simon Przydacz and Craig Zetter. Both are injured.
Instead, the matches that will decide not only which team tops the ladder, but which side qualifies for the lucrative Asian Champions League, will be refereed by inexperienced quartet Michael Hester, Kevin Docherty, Peter O'Leary and Strebre Delovski.
Hester, who will referee tonight's clash between Newcastle and Perth, has controlled just one A-League game.
Docherty, who has not refereed a game this season, is in charge of Central Coast's battle with Wellington tomorrow night while Sydney's contest with Melbourne on Sunday will be under the control of O'Leary, who has been the man in the middle only four times this season.
Delovski will control the Adelaide and Queensland clash in Adelaide.
Football Federation Australia referees manager Richard Lorenc admitted the Kuala Lumpur camp timing was unfortunate, but said it presented a great chance for four other whistleblowers"
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Well that is interesting. Has anyone heard about Docherty? Out of those four I would have prefereed Delovski, he did a fairly sound job in the Perth game a few weeks back.
I can only wonder how O'Leary can stuff up the Sydney -Tards game!
Stakes cannot be higher in the final round of the season, with four teams - Queensland, Sydney, Central Coast and Newcastle - locked on 31 points and all having a chance of winning the premiership.
But the marquee round will not include Australia's four leading whistleblowers in Mark Shield, Matthew Breeze, Peter Green and Ben Williams, who will be in Kuala Lumpur for a compulsory Asian Football Confederation referees' course.
Also unavailable are the two referees arguably considered the next best options - Simon Przydacz and Craig Zetter. Both are injured.
Instead, the matches that will decide not only which team tops the ladder, but which side qualifies for the lucrative Asian Champions League, will be refereed by inexperienced quartet Michael Hester, Kevin Docherty, Peter O'Leary and Strebre Delovski.
Hester, who will referee tonight's clash between Newcastle and Perth, has controlled just one A-League game.
Docherty, who has not refereed a game this season, is in charge of Central Coast's battle with Wellington tomorrow night while Sydney's contest with Melbourne on Sunday will be under the control of O'Leary, who has been the man in the middle only four times this season.
Delovski will control the Adelaide and Queensland clash in Adelaide.
Football Federation Australia referees manager Richard Lorenc admitted the Kuala Lumpur camp timing was unfortunate, but said it presented a great chance for four other whistleblowers"
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Well that is interesting. Has anyone heard about Docherty? Out of those four I would have prefereed Delovski, he did a fairly sound job in the Perth game a few weeks back.
I can only wonder how O'Leary can stuff up the Sydney -Tards game!