Poor officiating in Greek Super League wreaking the championship, benefiting one specific team

Mark Clattenburg, the head of officiating for Hellenic Football Federation (EPO), the governing body of football in Greece, merely confirmed the very obvious after the eighth week of play in Greece's Super League.

Clattenburg, one of the most famous referees of the past two decades to emerge from the UK, confirmed the non-existence of a "penalty" awarded to AEK Athens in the first half of its Super League championship match with Aris Thessaloniki by local ref Aristotelis Diamantopoulos. The outlandish call allowed the home team to take a 2-0 lead going into halftime.

Subscriber TV viewers again and again, often in slow motion, watched AEK midfielder Petros Mantalos taking a "dive" when barely touched in the penalty area. Aris center back Jakub Brabec made no violation, he merely and unfortunately running next to Mantalos, when the latter "collapsed".

Clattenburg's public statements afterwards disputing the call, however, doesn't mean that "all's well, that ends well", or, "not well", in this case.

AEK Athens picked up the win at home against a very tough Aris side, coming away with the three points.

These aren't friendlies though; a pro championship is underway. The Athens side now has 19 points in eight matches. It would have stayed at 17 points, with a tie, had the Greek ref not fulfilled the role of a "12th man" on AEK's starting lineup.

Nevertheless, this wasn't the first time Dimitris Melissanidis' team has been the beneficiary of a mistaken officiating call this season. By conservative estimates, half the games (four) played by AEK this season, and by coincidence, all at its home pitch - the Athens Olympic Stadium (OAKA) - have been tarnished by outrageous calls benefiting the home side and elevating it in the standings.<...