Seb Ryall penalty makes world headlines, featured on Keith Olbermann’s US sports show

SEB Ryall’s controversial penalty makes world headlines, with referee Strebre Delovski nominated as the ‘World’s Worst Person in Sports’ by a US broadcaster.

SEB Ryall’s controversial penalty had made world headlines, with referee Strebre Delovski nominated as the ‘World’s Worst Person in Sports’ by a US broadcaster.

Ryall’s tumble, which resulted in a penalty for Sydney FC against Melbourne Victory, has caught the attention of ESPN funny man Keith Olbermann.

Olbermann took the mickey out of referee Strebre Delovski, featuring him in his “World’s Worst Person in Sports” segments after he inexplicably pointed to the spot when Ryall dramatically fell to the ground without being touched.

Watch the incident and Olbermann’s reaction in the video above

Referee Strebre Delovski (centre) gets between the Sydney and Melbourne players as tempers flare.

“Working the Australian A-League match between Sydney and Melbourne Saturday, Delovski appears to have been fooled by one of the worst flops in the history of sports,” Olbermann said.

“That or he sees ghosts.”

Ryall was cleared of simulation on Wednesday after new footage from the Sky Blues showed minimal, yet significant, contact between him and Gui Finkler. The three-man panel delivered the not guilty verdict after deliberating for less than 10 minutes.

The 25-year-old Ryall, however, admitted after the game that it wasn’t a penalty but argued he never set out to dive in the box and deceive the officials.

“As I ran towards him I was looking down at the ball and I felt contact and went down,” Ryall said.

“I thought it was a penalty ... I put my arms out because I felt contact and at the time I thought it was a foul.

“I couldn’t know that it wasn’t ... I didn’t clip my own ankle.”

Ryall said his reaction after Delovski pointed to the spot — when he tapped Finkler on the back of the head — was simply a case of being caught up in the heat of the moment.

“I was running through on goal and he stopped me from scoring. I was angry,” he said.

Originally published as Seb Ryall penalty makes world headlines, featured on Keith Olbermann’s US sports show