Široki Brijeg dissatisfied: Refereeing locomotive continues to shape the league table and manipulate football in BiH

(Patria) - Široki Brijeg footballers were defeated in the 26th round match of the BiH national championship by Tuzla City 3:1. The team from Pecara was not satisfied with the refereeing decisions after the match and issued a strong statement to the public.

The people of Široki Brijeg stated that they are once again addressing the public regarding the continuation of refereeing oversights and errors to the detriment of our Club.

“Although – while acknowledging our own performance failures – we warned at the end of the autumn half-season about gross refereeing errors that directly cost our Club points, the situation has remained almost identical, with a tendency to worsen. The appeals we made to the bodies governing BiH football have had absolutely no impact on eliminating the anomalies that surface from match to match. Instead of reactions that would prevent irreparable damage to our football, from match to match we witness how the refereeing locomotive continues at full speed to shape the league table and manipulate football in BiH. Of course, with someone's blessing!”, stated Široki Brijeg.

They further emphasize that the club has a young team that works diligently, trains daily, and wants to achieve its results exclusively through sporting competition on the green pitch.

“NK Široki Brijeg lost this Friday in Tuzla due to cardinal refereeing errors. Only the pitch can be the measure of value and success in football, which should be played under the same rules for all participants. Unfortunately, we are increasingly distanced from enjoying such noble sporting competition by frequent, brazen, and perfidious refereeing injustices. And not only towards our Club, but also towards other clubs, which leads to a loss of interest in football and drives away true fans, sympathizers, families with children, and young people from our stadiums”, claim the club from Herzegovina.

The people of Široki Brijeg believe they were wronged on two occasions at Tušanj.

“As we said, the match at Tušanj was decided by two gross refereeing errors:

41st minute – young Božo Prusina struck the ball brilliantly from 25 meters and beat the home goalkeeper. The ball hit the crossbar and ended up behind Tarik Abdulahović's back. However, the extremely poor and tendentious referee Dragan Petrović and his assistants did not acknowledge his masterful goal (his first!) even though the ball had completely crossed the goal line, which is confirmed by the available footage circulating in the media.

70th minute – there is no need to waste too many words on Mirzad Mehanović's 'fall' and the awarded penalty for the home team. We believe that the football world has not witnessed such a dangerous reaction from a defensive player in a long time.

After Čitluk and the match with GOŠK, for the second match in a row, within just four days, the 'arbiters of justice' continue to play their dirty game against our Club. In front of the eyes of the entire public, they shamelessly steal from a Club where over 300 children train daily and dream their football dreams in a better, healthier atmosphere.
As a reminder, in the match against GOŠK, the referee observer Rusmir Mrković pointed out two cardinal errors by referee Darko Gedžić: an uncalled penalty for Široki Brijeg and an unjustified penalty awarded to GOŠK, as well as poor application of disciplinary measures”, they explained.

Finally, they sent a sharp message.

“Summing up only the situations in which we were directly wronged and in which refereeing errors determined the final result in just the last two matches of our Club, we believe that this cannot be an isolated case. Football in BiH is a reflection of everything bad in our society. Gentlemen, this is a moral swamp, we are sinking deeper and deeper!”, concluded Široki Brijeg.