A referee ruled out a late goal after using a crowd member's mobile phone to review an incident during a second division match in Egypt on Friday. The bizarre moment went viral after many were left bewildered by referee Mohamed Farouk's decision to use a fan's phone as a replacement for the video assistant referee [VAR].
The match, which was between Suez SC and Al-Nasr, sparked into controversy in the 90th minute when Al-Nasr thought they'd scored a late equaliser. The players of Suez were sent into disbelief by the original, on-field decision and suggested that one of the Al-Nasr players had been standing in an offside position. With VAR not operated in second-tier games, referee Farouk had to use the phone of a crowd member to come to a conclusive decision on the matter. There were murmurs through the crowd as they eagerly awaited the official's ruling. After careful consideration, Farouk overturned his original call on the goal and disallowed it. Fifteen minutes of stoppage time were added and Suez won the game 3-1.
The referee left the pitch under police protection, amid protests from Al-Nasr players and officials, who threatened to take legal action against the referee for violating the regulations. Reports from BaladTV suggest that the match could be replayed, should the country's Referee Committee decide that inappropriate measures were taken. The same outlet claim that the country's League Association is still awaiting a report from the committee before making any final judgements on the matter. It remains to be seen what conclusion that they will come to but, after labelling it a 'catastrophic mistake', it can be expected for the match to be replayed.
Source: Daily Mail
