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Wrecked refs Drunken Russian UEFA officials face lifetime ban
Posted: Friday September 17, 1999 02:51 PM
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian soccer officials said Friday that severe administrative measures would be taken against a four-man Russian referee crew who allegedly got drunk before a UEFA Cup match in Israel. The four -- Sergei Khusainov, Sergei Martynov, Pavel Ginzburg and Feizudin Erzimanov -- reportedly drank heavily before Thursday night's match between Hapoel Haifa Israel and FC Brugge Belgium, according to Alexander Tukmanov, director of the Football Union of Russia. The four were barred by local soccer officials from refereeing the match, which Hapoel Haifa won 3-1. According to the Interfax news agency, the four got drunk and harassed waitresses at a local restaurant and women border guards at Ben Gurion airport. Reports in the British press said they attempted to fondle women on their arrival at the airport and kissed the hands of waitresses and tried to pinch them. They also reportedly demanded whiskey, and at one stage went out to the street and directed traffic. Tukmanov said he had no first-hand information about their wild behavior, but an official report from UEFA was reason enough to punish them on a domestic level, Interfax reported. "The most severe measures will be applied to all four," Tukmanov said, according to the news agency. A final decision on their punishment was to be made Friday night after Khusainov was to appear before the soccer union's directorate, Interfax said. According to Tovi Malach, an Israeli soccer official, when the quartet realized what they had done, they locked themselves in their hotel room and refused to leave, Interfax said. He then reported their behavior to the Israeli Football Association and UEFA sent a reserve crew from Romania.
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