The press service of Zhytomyr's "Polesie" reacted to the published conversation of the referees during a controversial episode that occurred in the match of the 12th round of the Ukrainian championship against "Alexandria" (1:2).
“FC "Polesie" expresses satisfaction with the UAF’s decision to publish the recordings of the referees’ conversations from the VAR cabin for the first time in the history of Ukrainian football.
After reviewing the provided materials, FC "Polesie" is outraged by the actions of the main referee Oleksandr Shandor and VAR referee Roman Blavatsky in the match "Alexandria" — "Polesie" in the 12th round of the UPL, specifically regarding the episode that occurred in the 90+3 minute of the game. It is clearly recorded in the tapes that the main referee Shandor and VAR referee Blavatsky did not verify the correctness or incorrectness of the decision in any way. Main referee Shandor did not see the episode, did not review the replay (did not use VAR), and therefore did not fulfill his direct obligations in the match.
VAR referee Blavatsky noted a possible handball in the penalty area of FC "Alexandria", but exhibited unacceptable and suspicious haste in making a decision, and also concluded the review of the key moment of the match between direct competitors without any convincing arguments. In turn, Shandor, not having received convincing reasoning from Blavatsky regarding the handball episode, refused to independently review the episode.
Thus, main referee Shandor and VAR referee Blavatsky displayed culpable negligence, which fundamentally affected the final result of the match and, consequently, the course of the championship.
FC "Polesie" demands:
1) to assess the actions of main referee Shandor and VAR referee Roman Blavatsky;
2) to apply all necessary disciplinary measures to main referee Shandor and VAR referee Roman Blavatsky to prevent similar mistakes in the future;
3) calls on UPL clubs to support the initiative of FC "Polesie" for a face-to-face meeting of clubs with UAF arbitration consultant N. Riccolli and head of the UAF refereeing corps K. Monzul to discuss pressing issues related to referees’ decisions, which have significantly arisen at the beginning of this season and influenced the outcomes.