Football
AAP 6y

Brisbane Roar's David Pourre slams 'below standard' A-League referees

Brisbane Roar managing director David Pourre believes poor refereeing in the A-League is "systemic" of governance problems at Football Federation Australia.

Not for the first time this season, the Roar were left seething after a series of what appeared to be clear-cut calls went against them in Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Newcastle.

Nikolai Topor-Stanley pushed over Avraam Papadopoulos, whose feet were inside the penalty area, during injury time but neither referee Stephen Lucas or video assistant referee Chris Beath believed it was worthy of a foul.

Coach John Aloisi was also furious that one of the linesmen incorrectly flagged Massimo Maccarone as offside in the second half -- something he said happened far too regularly to the veteran Italian striker.

Pourre echoed Aloisi's remarks but went further, slamming A-League referees as "well below standard" and pointing the finger of blame at head office.

"In my opinion as head of the club, I think it's a reflection of the whole situation," Pourre said.

"Our referees are well below standard. The VAR clearly isn't working properly.

"Decisions are made [to not award penalties] when there's clearly evidence that suggests they are penalties, and that's what happened in the second half.

"The linesman, we question why all the time. How hard is it to keep your flag down?

"It's not just one occasion, two occasions -- multiple occasions now that linesmen have got offside calls drastically wrong, which do turn a game.

"We experienced such a wonderful game between two quality sides and it gets let down by a referee's decision -- not just one, but multiple.

"It's systemic of what's actually happening, I believe, in the FFA."

Aloisi said the decisions had cost the Roar at least a draw against the Jets.

"I usually say it evens itself out over a year but it hasn't. Not yet. Maybe it will," Aloisi said.

"Maybe we might get a sorry this week from [FFA]."

^ Back to Top ^