A former PSL referee has weighed in on the Gaston Sirino red card incident which took place during the match between Maritzburg United and Mamelodi Sundowns.
During the thrilling Absa Premiership clash, where Downs secured a 2-1 victory at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Tuesday night, Sirino received his marching orders from referee Victor Gomes for what looked to be a dissent gesture towards the match official on the hour mark.
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After the match, Sundowns head coach, Pitso Mosimane, said he had warned Sirino before the match about Gomes, as both the player and the match official are 'emotional', according to the former Bafana Bafana coach.
Speaking to the Siya crew about the incident, former PSL referee Faiek Daniels lauded Gomes' reaction and the decision to send Sirino off the field.
"The thing is, nobody other than the referee will understand why he actually gave a yellow or a red card. The law is specific, it is called dissent. Dissent can be by word or action. He (Sirino) did it by action by showing the referee like he was saying, 'Hey, go man'. That is a cautionable offence," said Daniels.
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"A lot of people, because they think with the heart...in football there are rules and you need to follow the rules. If you don't follow the rules, you need to be punished accordingly. The referee was just following the rules," added Daniels.
"Also, when it comes to the commentators...some commentators are speaking from the point of what they think should have been done. They should not really be commentators if they don't know the laws of the game, because they are the ones telling the viewers out there and the viewers make decisions based on what the commentators are saying. A referee makes a decision based on the laws of the game.
"If you notice in England, they don't dwell on something and they would be like, 'The referee has made a decision and we don't agree with it, yeah, let's continue.' In South Africa, people want to go deep into something because we want to prove to the world that the referee is wrong. That's what is unfortunate about what soccer is about in South Africa," added the former match official.
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