Referee rulings rock Seagulls water polo team (From Bournemouth Echo)

Referee rulings rock Seagulls water polo team

7:00am Thursday 9th July 2009

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CONTROVERSY ruled the day when Christchurch and New Milton Seagulls’ water polo juniors made their first excursion outside the South West region.

Seagulls began and ended the Red Cross Under-16 tournament at Basingstoke with convincing 12-0 and 12-1 wins over Basingstoke B and Worcester.

But their hopes of taking at least a share of the trophy were dashed by controversial refereeing decisions in their other two matches, against London League high-flyers Basingstoke A and Croydon.

Against Basingstoke A, Seagulls were 1-0 up with 90 seconds to go and thought they had secured victory when they were awarded a penalty.

They duly scored only for the referee to overturn his original decision saying he had awarded a free throw instead.

In the confusion Basingstoke equalised, then took the lead with just six seconds on the clock to win 2-1.

Against tournament favourites Croydon, Seagulls clawed their way back from a 4-0 deficit to draw level with 20 seconds to go.

They then scored what they thought was a winning goal, only for the referee to controversially declare that the clock had expired one second before the ball crossed the line.

Despite a protest, the 4-4 scoreline stood – although there was consolation for Seagulls’ Megan Fletcher, whose defensive work won her the award for the female player of the tournament.

Coach Rob Webber said: “It was a shame to lose a share of the trophy on a couple of shaky decisions but players have to bounce back from those disappointments. This tournament represented another step up in class and was a real test of our players.”

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