Football fans will have to sleep a bit longer on that dream final.
Instead of the final 20 minutes, the entire David Thompson Memorial Constituency Councils’ Classic semi-final between The City and St Michael North will now have to be replayed tonight after organizers realized there was nothing in the playing rules allowing for the game’s resumption.
Tournament director Mark “Bob” Forde revealed that under the Barbados Football Association’s (BFA) playing rules, there are only a couple of stipulations that allow for a game to be resumed, and he only discovered this upon closer examination of the constitution.
“Apparently, the BFA stipulates that a game can only be continued if the lights go out or the pitch is deemed unsuitable for play, but there are no other conditions listed,” Forde said.
“And according to FIFA rules, once we don’t specify all the conditions that would allow for a game to be continued then the match must be replayed from the beginning.
“If you had asked me earlier, I would swear that we had such conditions in our playing rules, even the BFA themselves thought so too.”
It stands as an unwelcome setback for City, the defending champions who looked well on their way to the much-awaited final against Christ Church West Central after holding a 2-1 lead over St Michael North at Speightstown.
The referee blew-off the contest with 20 minutes remaining after one of the referee assistants refused to continue officiating for fear of his safety.
According to eyewitness accounts, the assistant was under constant crowd-heckling before he was struck by a missile thrown from the crowd.
“It was unfortunate because this was one of those things that don’t usually happen,” said Forde.
“This was an isolated incident because the crowd has been really good throughout the entire tournament. I don’t want anyone to think they’re not safe because I believe this is just the action of an idiot doing foolishness.”
The game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Speightstown, and Forde has again promised a police presence at the venue.
Tournament favourites Christ Church West Central had earlier secured their spot in Sunday’s final with a commanding 3-1 victory over St Michael South Central.
