Football news: Match referees locked up by club in Turkey

In a bizarre incident in Turkey, a match referee and his three assistants were locked up in a stadium by the home team’s club president after he was upset by controversial decisions made by the officials during the game.

The incident occurred after a Turkish Super League game between Trabzonspor and Gaziantepspor, which ended in a 2-2 draw. Trabzonspor, the home team, were enraged by the fact that the referee decided not to award a penalty to the team in the final minutes of the game, denying them an outright victory.

According to a Reuters report, Trabzonspor president Ibrahim Hacinosmanoglu, who was not at the stadium during the match, called stadium security and ordered them not to let the match referee and his assistants leave the stadium after the match until he arrived there in the morning. A crowd of angry supporters of the home team had also gathered outside the stadium by then.

The referees were detained for four hours after the game had ended, and were let go only after the president of Turkey himself intervened. Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan called Hacinosmanoglu and ordered the immediate release of the officials to avoid further embarrassment of Turkish football around the world. The president also reportedly promised Hacinosmanoglu that the penalty incident would be investigated. The officials were then finally let go at 4 a.m. in the morning, escorted by Turkish special forces.

“This unlawfulness cannot be justified by any erroneous referee decision and has caused deep discomfort in the whole football world. All efforts will be made to ensure that the related persons be tried not only under sports law but also criminal law,” the Turkish Football Federation said, via Reuters.

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