New Zealand Referees Back Peter O'Leary Amidst Dismissal Calls

Under criticism referee Peter O'Leary is getting offering of support from his home country of New Zealand, the referee came under fire after he appeared an image of him and Nigeria's goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama appeared in the media, thereby sparking outrage amongst Bosnia-Herzegovina fans.

O'Leary disallowed an Edin Dzeko goal and failed to call foul play in the buildup to Nigeria's goal and that has given rise to a conspiracy theory that the he was bribed to favour Nigeria.

"It was just two human beings coming together at the end of a high-pressure game," says New Zealand Football referee development manager Ken Wallace. "The goalkeeper puts his arm around the referee, what's the referee going to do?"

A representative of the New Zealand Referees quizzed.

Some of the signatories to the online petitions have also questioned O'Leary's knowledge of football being that Rugby is New Zealand's most popular sport.

A friend of the referee commented: "I thought Peter had a tremendous game.

"I thought he looked a world-class referee in that game.

"He'll be upset about any suggestion that he could be cheating.''

The online petition against the referee is for FIFA to sanction the referee and exclude from all future competitions, but the case remains unpredictable as FIFA is yet to take any action in the act.