Rules clear for big FA Cup semi-final match
THERE will be no penalty kicks during Sunday's FA Cup semi-final game at Wellington Oval ? only extra time and a replay if the teams remain deadlock.
FA Cup giants PHC and North Village can be assured that there will he no rule blunders similar to the one that marred the Friendship Trophy quarter-final just over a six weeks ago.
That mishap at St. John's field on January 9th saw referee George O'Brien mistakenly end the game early after it went into extra time, refusing to extend it to penalty kicks which the rules called for.
O'Brien's error, which he later admitted to, saw the Bermuda Football Association intervene by calling for a shootout two nights later.
But Town refused to abide by their ruling and consequently opened the door for Village to advance to the next round.
Dandy Town have appealed by taking their case to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Alternate Dispute Resolution arbitration tribunal after being put out of the competition.
At Wellington Oval this Sunday there will be no such mistakes, said the chairman of the BFA's referees committee Gregory Grimes.
He said that everybody had been appraised of the rules and that he expected referee Anthony Mouchette, the man in charge, to be in full control of the proceedings.
Grimes said that the FA Cup rules are clear and quite definitive ? there will be only be extra time and then a replay will be enforced at a later date.
"All of the FA Cup rules have been circulated to the referees and also at the semi-final stage like this one. There will be a BFA representative at the game who will definitely be available with similar knowledge of these rules, so to be honest there is no way that anything that occurred in the Friendship Trophy should arise," said Grimes.
"I certainly don't foresee any problem. Earlier this year all of the referees were given the rules and we are confident that they know what's going on. Mr. O'Brien admitted that he made a mistake and that's behind us now ? he's only human."
The BFA have intentions of taking steps next season to ensure that all referees are appraised of all of the competitions ? step one will probably be taken in the middle of summer when there will be a referee course held and the intention is to take advantage of such a gathering and pass information of the rules of competitions on to them.
That way, according to Grimes, all of the referees will have copies of the official and updated rules and that no one official will be misguided by something that is entirely different.
Football fans will be in for a treat this Sunday when the big match is played. While the standard of play will be unpredictable the competitiveness is bound to gain the full attention of an expected large crowd.
While North Village have to be on a high after their recent good run following a slow start to the season, PHC enter the contest the favourites after having beaten Village twice this season in the league. They also scored a very convincing 4-1 victory over Boulevard in their Premier League clash at BAA on Sunday.
In the women's FA Cup clash Lady Cougars take on a strong Somerset Hurricane squad.