The Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) issued an official media release on Friday (20) stating that its Competition Committee has unanimously suspended four players and the manager of Renown Sports Club for directly getting involved in assaulting a match referee.
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| Sri Lanka cap Fazlur Rahuman (on ground) will miss the action for 22 more months. (Pic by Amila Prabodha) |
According to the statement the four players Mohamed Zain, Mohamed Nafeer, Mohamed Rizni and Fazlur Rahuman have been slapped with a two-year ban while their manager, Royston Fernando will serve a one year suspension from any involvement with the sport. The eight-member competition committee headed by Retired Senior DIG of Police, K.P. Pathirana decided to unanimously ban the four Renown players after their direct involvement in the incident of assaulting referee Priyanga Namal in a Dialog Champions League football match played at Kelaniya Football Complex on February 26 this year.
“The Competition Committee of FFSL unanimously, suspended the four players for two years from football and football management for directly getting involved in the incident of assaulting of the referee Priyanga Namal in the Champions League match played on February 26, 2012 at Kelaniya Football Complex. They will be suspended from February 26, 2012 to February 25, 2014 accordingly,” the statement said.
The committee’s decision to suspend the secretary of Renown, Royston Fernando for one year which is already under affect from February 26, 2012 for a year until February 25, 2013 was however disputed by the alleged offender.
“I really didn’t know anything of a suspension handed over to me or four of our (Renown) players. How can they (FFSL) come to such a decision when they have not even bothered to reply a letter of explanation on the said incident. This is a totally unfair and biased judgment,” Fernando told the Sunday Times.
Fernando said he was highly offended and embarrassed by the decision taken by the FFSL Competition Committee which found him guilty for failing in his duties as the secretary of the home team. The FFSL statement further went on to say that as the secretary of Renown, the hosting team, Fernando ‘kept blind eye’ at all incidents taken place to tarnish the image of the game at the said encounter’.
“He too was found guilty for making baseless allegations at FFSL officials to mislead the inquiry proceedings,” the statement added.
“This allegation is totally baseless. I was in the opposite side when the incident occurred. Soon after the encounter finished I collected statements from our players and the club held an inquiry. It was revealed that spectators, who are not under our control in any way, have assaulted the referee and we sent a detailed letter explaining the club’s stand to the FFSL. All our players are contracted and we do not entertain any wrongdoers at Renown Sports Club. The players will defend themselves in a different way but I have made a decision to seek legal action against the FFSL on this certain matter. It has brought me nothing but disrepute,” a furious Fernando said.
Fernando told the Sunday Times that he will start processing legal action from Monday (23) after discussing with a team of legal representatives. The Sunday Times’ attempts to contact DIG Pathirana and the General Secretary of FFSL DIG Upali Hewage who is also a member of the committee proved futile. |
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