Zamalek have issued an official statement revealing four decisions, following the refereeing controversy that accompanied the Cairo derby against Al Ahly in the Egyptian Premier League.
Al Ahly won 2-0 in a match that saw protests from Zamalek's players, who demanded two penalties be awarded for their forward Shikabala Banza.
Zamalek said in their statement on Tuesday: "Based on the ongoing consultations within Zamalek's board of directors regarding the events of the recent Cairo derby and the refereeing errors witnessed in the match, the board has decided to take a number of decisions to protect the rights of the club and its fans, as follows."
It continued: "Firstly: granting the Egyptian Football Association a 48-hour deadline for a final response to the complaint submitted by the club against the main referees' committee regarding the serious errors from which Zamalek suffered during the derby."
The second point called for access to the VAR audio. "Coordinating with the Football Association to send a delegation from the club to listen to the recordings from the video assistant referee (VAR) room relating to the match, in order to determine what took place inside the room and the reasons for the technology not intervening in the incidents that affected the course of the match and its result."
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Third came a pointed reference to the man in charge of Egypt's referees. "Citing the statement made by Essam Abdel Fattah, head of the main referees' committee at the Football Association, during his intervention with the broadcaster Seif Zaher on ON Sport channel, bearing in mind that the laws of football refereeing are the same throughout the world."
Fourthly, the club turned to the broadcast itself: "Contacting the Supreme Council for Media Regulation to demand the swift adoption of the necessary measures and the holding to account of whoever was responsible for the broadcasting of chants insulting to Zamalek club during the television coverage of the match, so as to ensure compliance with media regulations and standards and to preserve sporting and societal values."
Zamalek signed off with a warning. "In conclusion, we affirm that Zamalek will continue to defend the rights of its fans so that refereeing errors against it are not repeated, after the club has suffered greatly from such errors throughout its long history and has paid a heavy price for them. It will not be acceptable for the situation to remain as it is, whatever the consequences, in light of Zamalek's determination to establish the principle of justice across the Egyptian football system in general."
Essam Abdel Fattah stirs controversy
Abdel Fattah's comments, singled out in the statement, have sparked plenty of argument over the past few hours.
He confirmed that Zamalek deserved to be awarded a penalty against Al Ahly according to the standards of Egyptian refereeing.
Speaking on air, he said: "Was Zamalek wronged in the Cairo derby? That is not my concern and I am against foreign referees. There are different standards and what is given in Egypt may not be given in other places. If the referee for the derby had been Egyptian, there might have been different decisions."
On the first flashpoint, he added: "As for the incident involving Marwan Attia and Shikabala Banza, what happened was that the ball went out of play before any contact occurred, and the assistant referee gave a goal kick to Al Ahly club."
The second was the one that did the damage. "As for the incident involving Shikabala Banza and Ashraf Dari, had the referee been Egyptian it would have been given as a penalty for Zamalek, but these are different schools of thought and I cannot change a way of thinking or a school to suit Egyptian football."
He went on: "This referee is not Egyptian and I have no authority over him, and we did not find an elite referee to appoint to officiate the derby due to circumstances documented in official papers."