FOOTBALL: THAT WAS THE WEEKEND THAT WAS

After a weekend of renewed criticism of Premiership referees - Paul Jones and David Elleray, in particular, have found themselves on the end of some stinging comments - the officials under fire might consider themselves fortunate to be plying their trade in England rather than Turkey.

Referee Metin Tokat so upset the Istanbul club Besiktas with his failure to award a penalty in a recent game that the club have gone a little further than making derogatory comments to the press - they have applied to the custodians of local justice to have the unfortunate man sent to jail.

The match, which Besiktas, fourth in the Turkish League, had been hot favourites to win, ended 0-0, infuriating the home side.

According to reports at the weekend, the Besiktas club lawyer Necati Toker said that referee had abused his duty as an unbiased public worker in refusing to give Besiktas a penalty after a player from their lowly opponents Vanspor had "clearly handled the ball in the penalty area".

On that basis, Necati has applied to an Istanbul court demanding that Metin should be given a three-year jail sentence for abusing his position.

Rumour has it that Alex Ferguson is closely monitoring the case...