Happy Valley head coach pleads with Hong Kong Football Association ‘not to give us women referees’ after accusing Gigi Law of being unfit
- Happy Valley’s Pau insisted he was ‘not being sexist’ but was simply pointing out that referee Law could not ‘keep up’ with the speed of play
- Pau is handed a yellow card during the game for dissent while Valley defender Lam is sent off in injury time also for dissent
“Everyone can see Gigi Law is not physically strong enough to oversee men’s games. Please write to the HKFA and plead them not to give us women referees.
“I am not being sexist,” Pau added, “she simply didn’t have the fitness to keep up the whole match. How many things did she miss? She missed a whole lot,” Pau said after what was Valley’s second consecutive loss and fifth game without a win.
Pau was shown a yellow card for dissent during the match and Happy Valley defender Lam Hin-ting was given a red card in injury time also for dissent.
Pegasus coach Kenneth Kwok Kar-lok, who had Jose Nilson dos Santos Silva to thank for the three points after his early goal was enough to put them third in the table, was cautious after the game.
“I don’t want to talk too much about the officiating, but the decisions were relatively slow. Fouls are fouls, there was no instant whistle blown. If it was slower by three or four seconds, it may cause injuries to footballers. I hope the reaction is a bit faster. After the resumption of the league competitions, the teams have shown improvement. I also hope the referees show improvement,” Kwok said, before praising his players for the “important” win.
“I have to match the physical fitness levels of my male counterparts and, more importantly, I have to gain the level of experience the [HKFA] considers sufficient before I can officiate a Premier League match,” the 35-year-old former physical education teacher said.
The Post attempted to contact the HKFA for its view on Pau’s comments.
