Video shows referee talking about federation support, not controversial Bahrain-Indonesia match

Published on October 18, 2024 at 05:48
3 min read
By AFP Indonesia

After a contentious equaliser deep into stoppage time denied Indonesia victory in their World Cup qualifying tie with Bahrain, an old video circulated in posts that falsely claimed it showed the referee asking why he was being "attacked" for his performance in the match. Bahrain's equaliser came in the ninth minute of stoppage time -- beyond the six minutes initially indicated by match officials -- sparking outrage from the Indonesian team. The video circulating online in fact shows the Omani referee Ahmed Al-Kaf speaking months before the controversial match about support from his country's football federation.

"Ahmed Al-Kaf, who refereed the 2026 World Cup qualifying match between Bahrain and Indonesia, responds after receiving criticism," read part of an Indonesian-language Facebook post that shared the video on October 11, 2024.

The caption said Al-Kaf was responding to complaints about allowing nine minutes of stoppage time to be played when only six minutes were initially indicated.

The October 10 match was brought to an end after Bahrain equalised in the 99th minute, with Indonesian players reportedly protesting and fans flooding to social media with complaints they had been "robbed" (archived link).

The video shows the referee speaking in Arabic, with Indonesian text superimposed at the start of the video that reads: "Referee's clarification: 'Why am I being attacked? Stop the negative comments, I am honest and fair!'"

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on October 15, 2024

The clip was shared with similar false claims on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X, where it was viewed more than 2.2 million times.

However, the video is unrelated to the Bahrain-Indonesia match.

Old interview

A keyword search found a longer version of the video posted on YouTube by Hassan Hashmi, an Omani reporter for beIN Sports, on January 30, 2024 -- months before the Bahrain-Indonesia match (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison between the falsely shared video (left) and the YouTube video (right):

Screenshot comparison between the falsely shared video (left) and the YouTube video (right)

In the video, Al-Kaf is asked about the possibility of an Omani referee going to the World Cup in 2026.

It is put to him that there is "no support for you from the Federation or the Referee Committee within the Omani Football Federation", before he is asked: "Does the federation play a role in supporting referees?"

Al-Kaf responds: "The federation has tried to the best of its ability, and now the responsibility lies with me as a referee".

There is no mention of Bahrain or Indonesia in the video.

Sports reporter Hashmi also posted the video on Instagram (archived link).

While there are no official reports of Al-Kaf responding to the criticism after the Indonesia-Bahrain match, the Oman Football Association condemned "in the strongest terms the unprovoked attack and the use of threatening and intimidating language" against the referee.

In a statement posted on its official X account, the association called on world football's governing body FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation to "assume their responsibility" to protect referees (archived link).

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