At the end of the match between Gangwon FC and FC Seoul, referee Chae Sang-hyeop’s incomprehensible decision was eventually concluded as a ‘misjudgment’. Seoul must bear the damage intact. The 1 point that flew away is the victory point that divided the fate of the K-League champions or relegated teams.
According to the Korea Football Association (KFA), the referee evaluation subcommittee unanimously concluded through an online meeting on the 27th that referee Chae Sang-hyeop’s decision against Gangwon was wrong. The result came out that declaring Kim Jin-ya’s holding foul itself was a foul, and failing to make an accurate decision through video review (VAR) with a hasty whistle was also wrong. It means that it was an obvious mistake.
In the K-League 1 round 9 match between Gangwon and Seoul on the 26th, chief referee Chae Sang-hyeop stood at the center of controversy with a controversial decision at the end of extra time in the second half. The whistle was blown pointing out Kim Jin-ya (Seoul)’s foul right before Seoul’s last attack opportunity, which was trailing 2-3 at the time, was about to score a dramatic equalizer. It was the referee’s judgment that Kim Jin-ya grabbed Seo Min-woo (Kangwon) with his hand and knocked him down.
The problem is that in the video from a different angle, Seo Min-woo tripped over the leg of his teammate, not Kim Jin-ya. Kim Jin-ya did not get involved in the process of Seo Min-woo’s fall. This was the reason why the referee evaluation subcommittee had no choice but to acknowledge referee Chae’s foul declaration as an obvious mistake. Kim Jin-ya also appealed to the referee for regret when his foul was declared, but the whistle was already blown and the decision could not be overturned. He made a gesture as if he was communicating with the VAR referee’s office, but the foul was not subject to VAR in the first place.
The bigger problem was that referee Chae had the opportunity to correct himself that Jin-ya Kim’s foul was wrong in the first place. It was not the timing when Palosevich shot after Seo Min-woo fell, but if the whistle was blown after Palosevich’s shot shook the net, it was because we could see various situations, including the scene where Min-woo Seo fell, through VAR reviews. Since the foul was declared first, not subject to VAR, there was no scoring scene afterwards. Because of the hasty whistle, the VAR review itself was impossible.
What made the controversy inevitably grow was that he blew the whistle ‘urgently’ at the moment of ‘why’ he was shooting. It was because there was no reason to stop the game urgently at the moment when the shooting timing was enough to score, so a more precise decision through VAR was possible. It was a decision that was difficult to understand, so there is an atmosphere of unnecessary misunderstanding among fans.
The referee evaluation subcommittee also concluded that Jinya Kim’s foul declaration and failure to faithfully follow the VAR protocol were both problematic. Over the coming weekend, the referee’s assignment to the K-League 1 match was also urgently canceled. Additional administrative measures or disciplinary actions will be discussed again through the Referee Evaluation Subcommittee next week.
The damage caused by the ‘major miscarriage’ has no choice but to be carried by the Seoul club and fans. If a normal decision had been made, a dramatic draw would have earned one point, but one point was lost due to an obvious misjudgment. Looking back at how much the value of one point at the end of the season was, it is inevitable for Seoul to be unfair. It doesn’t end with a miscarriage, but the aftermath continues until the end of the season.
Right away, the gap between Gangwon and Suwon FC’s final A and B groups last year was one point. The same was true of Seongnam FC’s 1st division retention in 2021 and the fate of Gangwon’s promotion playoff (PO) fall. In 2019, after Jeonbuk Hyundai and Ulsan Hyundai tied on points, the winning team was split on multiple points. Each season, one point determined the fate of each team. 메이저사이트
No one knows what kind of aftermath the 1 point that was blown away by this misjudgment will bring to Seoul in the future. Like other referees, referee Chae will secretly return to the ground sooner or later, but the Seoul club and fans will have to bear the aftermath throughout the season. Other clubs and fans are also taking this controversy seriously because they can become victims at any time. Only the distrust towards the K-League referees, which had already grown, increased ‘again’.
