Referee instructor Lyndon Raynor says former refereeing colleague Richard Knight is wrong to suggest that referees are at fault when a player’s name has been left off the teamsheet, as was the case on Saturday with Southampton Rangers substitute Najiyah Raynor.

Knight believes the match officials “from the referee down” have the responsibility to ensure that all players are listed on the teamsheet, after Raynor’s name was added to the sheet after the FA Cup match with St David’s had started. Rangers went on to win 4-2, with Raynor coming on as a second-half substitute.

However, Raynor emphasised yesterday that the introduction of match commissioners was aimed to assist the referees with such things as the collection of teamsheets.

“The procedure is the teams are required to present the teamsheets to the match commissioner, who will check the teamsheets and account for all the players scheduled to be participating in the match that day,” Raynor explained.

“The referees are duty-bound to inspect the teamsheets and confirm who the players are but in the case of what was supposed to have happened on Saturday, this player was added after the game had started while the referee was in the middle of the match.

“The referee cannot account for a player being added to the teamsheet at that point because the match commissioner is the one doing the administrative side. Any alterations he would have know beforehand and should have said, ‘no, once the game has started, you cannot add anyone to your teamsheet’.”

Raynor, who quit refereeing at the end of last season, was a match official for about 30 years, at a time when referees were responsible solely for checking the teamsheets. “I refereed at the old PHC Stadium and when we had football at Frog Lane Field,” he said.

Raynor now assesses and observes other referees for the Bermuda Football Association. “Up until the game starts you can add or take away whoever you want [from the teamsheet],” he explains.

“But once the game has started no teamsheet can be amended to add additional players, so Richard Knight has got that part wrong.

“Before we had match commissioners, referees would keep possession of the teamsheets so there was no way a player could be added to it. But now with match commissioners the practice is that the match commissioner will keep possession of the teamsheets until the end of the match.

“The referee has the duty to inspect the teamsheets and should be familiar with who is playing and who is on the bench. After that he gives the sheets back to the match commissioner and goes and referees the game and cannot account for someone coming mid-game to the match commissioner and saying ‘oh, I want to add Lyndon Raynor’s name to the list’.

“If you want to add someone who wasn’t on the teamsheet at the beginning and that person now takes part, then that is a matter for the BFA to decide because you now have someone on a teamsheet who wasn’t there prior to kick-off.”

Sometimes names are added to the list of players with the expectation of them showing up just prior to the start. “As long as the names that are given to the match commissioner takes place before kick-off, those players can participate in the match,” Raynor added.

“So if a team is short, they still need to name those players who they think are going to participate. Anyone whose name is not on the teamsheet after the game starts cannot participate in the match.”