Referee blunder as Chennai City FC player gets 2 yellows, stays on the pitch against Mohun Bagan

Bengaluru, February 7: Indian referee Akash Jackson Routh, officiating the I-League match between Chennai City FC and Mohun Bagan in Coimbatore, allowed a player with two yellow cards to remain on the pitch but sent off a player with just one booking.

In the 81st minute of the game, Chennai City defender Tarif Akhand brought down Aser Pierrick Dipanda Dicka inside the box. Referee pointed to the spot and showed Tarif a yellow, his second of the game. It's this part which is confusing.

The referee was surrounded by Chennai City players, who were arguing over the penalty decision. Routh clearly looked at Tarif while awarding the second yellow, but appears to have forgotten to give the player the marching orders. Tarif received his first booking in the 39th minute of the game.

Akram Moghrabi of Bagan took the resulting penalty, which was saved by Kabir Ali of Chennai City FC. In a challenge that followed outside the box after the penalty, a foul that was awarded to Chennai City in fact, the referee brandished the yellow to Edwin Vanspaul for dissent.

Vanspaul was one of the players protesting the penalty decision three minutes earlier - the other being defender Ravanan D. The referee shockingly displayed the red card and asked Vanspaul to leave the pitch.

Even as he and his teammates tried to explain to the referee that it was Vanspaul's first booking, Routh was in no mood to listen to them.

Vanspaul was forced to go to the dressing room but Tarif stayed on the pitch to play the rest of the game. The match also saw 11 minutes being added because of the confusion. It finally ended 0-0.

The only explanation for the bizarre incident is that Routh perhaps wrote down Vanspaul's jersey number by mistake in his book while awarding the second yellow to Tarif. Finally, when Routh awarded the yellow to Vanspaul for dissent, he sent him off.

Poor refereeing in I-League and Indian Super League has caused much embarrassment for the All India Football Federation. Incidents like these will definitely not help the morale of Indian referees.

Chennai City FC M Soosairaj was later quoted as saying by Sportstar: "It was Edwin's first yellow card. But the referee had his name in the book already so he sent him off. The assistant referee too pointed out that it was Edwin's first yellow of the game but the referee wouldn't listen. We will be making an appeal to the league to rescind the dismissal."

It remains to be seen whether the All India Football Federation will revoke the decision.