Singaporean referee Sukhbir Singh has been the subject of racial abuses on Twitter after he made some controversial decisions at International Champions Cup (ICC) match between Chelsea and Inter Milan on Saturday.
The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) vice-president Edwin Tong told The New Paper: “The FAS does not condone any form of racial abuse towards our referees, players, coaches or officials.
“This is especially unfair for our volunteers such as referees, who sacrifice a lot of their personal time to help with officiating our matches.”
Meanwhile, the Britain’s anti-discrimination group Kick It Out said that it is investigating online racial abuse against Sukhbir, according to Channel NewsAsia.
It stated that it “been made aware by members of the public concerned by the comments directed” at the referee and that the matter is being investigated by its “reporting officer who is liaising with relevant authorities”.
At the match between Chelsea and Inter Milan, the Indian-origin referee was criticized by some netizens for awarding the Italian side a controversial penalty at the end of the first half, after striker Stevan Jovetic was brought down by Chelsea full-back Cesar Azpilicueta.
In the second half, Sukhbir disallowed the equalizer from Chelsea’s Michy Batshuayi.