Ba soccer’s top choice goalkeeper, Josaia Ratu will know his fate next Saturday after being charged with abusing and manhandling a match official in the Ba-Labasa Vodafone Premier League match at Subrail Park earlier this month.
Ratu will appear before the Fiji Football Association Board of Control and will be given a chance to defend himself before a final decision is taken.
Ratu was not happy with the match official’s decision and had run towards the assistant referee after Labasa had scored the winning goal.
He was later pulled by other players and was red carded for his actions.
Meanwhile, some soccer fans have raised concerns as to why all Northern-based match officials were officiating in the Labasa-Ba VPL match.
Some fans are calling on the Fiji FA to appoint match officials from other districts for big matches like this.
When questioned, Fiji FA’s CEO Mohammed Yusuf says they will look into it, however, all match officials are neutral irrespective of where they come from or reside.
He says Shalesh Chand of Labasa who controlled the Ba-Labasa game is the only FIFA referee from Fiji.
Yusuf says gone are the days where people used to say that a Suva based referee cannot officiate Suva’s matches.
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