This week’s silent protest by A-League match officials has drawn a muted response from the man at the centre of their show of dissent, Wellington Phoenix coach Mark Rudan.
While Rudan was effusive about the form of his team following their 2-0 win over Central Coast in Wellington on Saturday, he kept his counsel on the subject of the match officials covering the “#respect” hashtag on their shirtsleeves.
All four officials at each match in round eight are set to follow suit in response to Football Federation Australia’s failure to take any action against Rudan following his damning criticism of a referee two weeks ago.
Rudan escaped sanction for his comments about Adam Kersey in the wake of their contentious 1-1 home draw with Perth Glory.
“Thanks for your question,” a bemused Rudan said when quizzed on the protest.
“I’ve got nothing to say. I thought they did well today.”
The action was launched by the Professional Football Referees Association, whose president Strebre Delovski told Fairfax Media that Rudan’s comments were a “form of bullying”.
However, the PRFA’s protest was criticised as provocative and immature in a statement from Football Coaches Australia.
The FCA said Rudan had made contact with FFA director of referees Ben Wilson after the Perth game to explain his comments and that the matter was considered closed.
“FCA believes that such action (from match officials) is overtly provocative and serves to undermine respect, rather than foster it. It is also an unnecessarily immature act, expressly directed towards one of our members,” the statement said.
The FCA urged the PFRA to take a more considered position on the issue.
© AAP
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