Source: The New Paper, May 7, 2013
Furious at the mysterious sending off of their star player, Woodlands fans resorted to chanting "referee kayu" at the match official last night in the S-League clash with Home United.
It has become synonymous with Singapore football down the years, although the match commissioner of last night's game at the Woodlands Stadium did not think so.
After rookie referee Jansen Foo sent off Ram's star playmaker Khalid Hamdaoui in the first half, and then failed to award Woodlands free-kicks for heavy challenges on two of their players, the home fans decided to react.
They began shouting "referee kayu", and later tweaked their chants to include some profanities.
Match commissioner Jimmy Cheong did not like what he heard, and tried to get them to stop.
This only drew the ire of fans who christened themselves "Black Sheep", who got even louder.
Cheong then had a word with Woodlands chairman Hussainar Aziz, club general manager Matthew Tay and even Football Association of Singapore (FAS) staff on duty at the game.
It was all in vain.
The fans continued singing and chanting and also jeered the match officials when they retired to their dressing room at half-time and full-time.
One of the supporters, Hussain Razak, said: "Somebody told us the match commissioner wanted us to stop the abuse. What abuse was that?"
"The referee spoiled the game after just 35 minutes, and you expect us to keep quiet?"
"We weren't the only ones. Across the entire stand people were booing the referee."
"We just tried a little creativity...No harm what."
Hussainar said: "I think the match commissioner was just a bit overzealous. I don't think this is something the S-League of FAS should be worried about."
- Sazali Abdul Aziz
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