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AL BE OFF
By Mark Walker
Martin Boyle’s proposed new club have threatened to withdraw from their own league in Saudi Arabia after Al-Faisaly made an official protest about refereeing standards in their league.
The Hibs ace has been offered a life-changing deal to move to the Middle East if the Saudi club can persuade the Easter Road side to sell their star asset.
However, Boyle would be moving into a challenging environment if he joined Al-Faisaly, a club that plays in Harmah City, in the centre of Saudi Arabia, which is reported to have a minimum summer temperature of 42 degrees.
They play in the 7,000-capacity Al Majma’ah Sports City Stadium and are managed by Portuguese boss Daniel Ramos.
They currently sit in 14th out of 16th in the Saudi Pro League after half of their season, meaning they are in the relegation spots which could send them down to the Saudi First Division.
But their patience has snapped after losing five games in a row – the last of which was the Saudi Super Cup at the weekend to Al-Hilal on penalties, after they had a player sent off in first half injury time in Riyadh.
And even though the showpiece game was refereed by respected Dutch whistler Danny Makkelie, Al-Faisaly put in an official protest after refereeing standards in the country.
They stated: “What happened in the Super Cup was simply a continuation of what has been the case all season. We were deprived due to unjust refereeing decisions.
“We have consulted with refereeing experts about many of the decisions we have found ourselves on the wrong end of this season and they have agreed that they were wrong.
“We call on the Saudi Federation to rise to its responsibility towards these grave mistakes and invest in modern technologies to consolidate the principles of professionalism and to ensure fair competition in all its competitions or we shall consider our position.
“Saudi football is the focus of attention in the Gulf, Arab, Asian world and even internationally and we believe the work we are putting in is being undermined by mistakes to the great frustration of all clubs, including ourselves.”
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