During their 27-29, 28-30, 25-23, 16-25 loss at the Sree Kanteerava stadium, the Bulls players were enraged with international referee Nair’s calls right from the start of the match, but things began to get out of control at the start of the third set.

Karnataka’s Anup D’Costa, who replaced Sanjay Kumar as the universal, placed a deft drop to the centre of the court. Chargers libero Vinod Negi charged from the back court and dived full length to try and get his right hand under the ball, but he quite evidently didn’t manage that.

In a surprising move, Nair signalled the continuation of play and earned the ire of the Bulls players. However, the situation hit rock bottom when Bulls coach Om Prakash bolted towards Nair at the end of the match and hurled expletives at him. Prakash was joined in his pursuit of the exiting Nair by Sanjay.

Sanjay went straight for the referee, who was almost at the exit, and just when it looked as if things were going to get physical, other referees stepped in and stopped the confrontation from assuming a nasty hue.

“Referees like him should not be called to officiate,” the Bulls coach told newsmen. “He is pathetic and should be banned.”