Former referee fined €5,000 for defaming colleague

A former referee was today fined €5,000 by a court after he was found guilty of defaming the head of the referees’ body over the selection of an official to oversee international matches.

The case dates back to January 2013, when Charles Zerafa, a former Malta Football Referees official, uploaded a post on his Facebook page questioning the appointment of Kevin Azzopardi as a Fifa official.

The post, which was directed at Adrian Casha, a member of the Referees Committee within the Malta Football Association, said that Mr Casha had “settled his obligation” towards Mr Azzopardi.

The court heard how Mr Zerafa and Mr Casha had been close friends up to 1995. They used to officiate games together and were both part of the referee’s association.

However, their close friendship came to an end over the appointment of then association president Patrick Fenech as an international referee. The dispute revolved around allegations that Mr Fenech was not in a physical state to carry out his on-pitch duties.

A year later, both parties were involved in a separate incident when Mr  Zerafa was officiating a game at the Mosta ground, in which Mr Casha was a linesman, together with Mr Azzopardi who...