BAY Stars failed to win promotion from the Vodacom League to the National First Division because of crooked referees and assistant referees, according to the Port Elizabeth club's owner, Tony Lovegrove.

He said Stars had a total of 13 goals disallowed, and this had torpedoed their chances of promotion.

He also claimed that his club's support staff and players had been "bombarded" with offers to throw matches during the season.

Lovegrove said that in one disputed incident, a linesman had laughed and shown his middle finger to the Stars coach.

SA Football Association (Safa) official Boya Chetty said the allegations were being investigated.

"I cannot comment on the specifics of the Bay Stars allegations, but our findings will be released in due course," said Chetty, who is a member of Safa's protocol and security committee.

Lovegrove said: "In the Vodacom League there was no consistency in refereeing. This makes winning games exceptionally difficult.

"The interpretation of the rules by officials is inconsistent and there is no auditing from senior officials at Safa. This ultimately translates into each ref having absolute power to dictate the outcome of games."

Lovegrove said his club had approached the regional office of Safa with complaints, but it had not helped to eradicate the problem.

"In spite of the regional office of Safa being very sympathetic, it unfortunately does not go further," said Lovegrove.

He said referees also did not take the players seriously and that they ignored poor field conditions which, he said, Bay Stars experienced in away games.

He said a major flaw was that referees were paid a pittance - about R250 per game. "This opens individuals to massive corruption," he said. Lovegrove said the club would pay much higher fees if doing so would guarantee quality refereeing.