With regards to your league match on
Date:- 20 November 2011
Time:- 11:00 AM
Venue:- Yusof Ishak Secondary School
Please find below our findings collated from both of your teams and the official in charge of the abovementioned game.
Everyday Sunday FC Report
Report 1
This email is to report on a off the ball incident which could have resulted in a serious injury to a player in Everyday Sunday FC (ESFC). This incident happened in the match against Pakiyoko FC (PFC) on 20/11/11 at 11am in Yusof Ishak Secondary School.
In the 85th minute, the player(myself, no. 11) from ESFC attempted to tackle the ball away from Iskandar Abdullah(no. 12) of PFC. Unfortunately, the attempt was mistimed and hence resulted in a clash with Iskandar Abdullah(no. 12) of PFC.
While the player(myself, no. 11) from ESFC was on the ground, Iskandar Abdullah(no. 12) of PFC retaliated by swinging his right foot towards the face of the ESFC player. His foot hit the shoulder and chest of the ESFC player and, fortunately, missed the face by a few inches.
Iskandar Abdullah(no. 12) was going to attempt another swing at the downed player when another player from ESFC, Ethan Loo(no. 25), came in to push the PFC player away from creating more damages.
The downed player(myself, no. 11) from ESFC was given a yellow card and the referee red-carded both Iskandar Abdullah(no. 12) and Ethan Loo(no. 25). It is unfortunate for Ethan Loo(no. 25) of ESFC to be red-carded despite his attempts to prevent the PFC player from hitting the downed player(myself, no. 11). However, ESFC will not appeal the referee's decision to send him off.
Referee had mentioned that he would put the incident in an official report to ESPZEN.
It is to be noted that Iskandar Abdullah(no. 12) of PFC had the direct intention to cause serious injury to the player(myself, no. 11) in retaliation despite suffering from a mistimed tackle. It is fortunate that no serious injury occurred but we hope that the player will be prevented from causing serious injury to others in the season ahead. The PFC team should also have acted to prevent such volatile players from ruining the good spirits of the game.
If there are any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Report 2
Thank you for replying.
1) Players involved in the incident from the opponent team – pls visit their player profiles for details –
Iskandar Abdullah(no. 12) of Pakiyoko FC (PFC)
2) Did the opponent team throw any punches or engage in any other form of violence?
No, it was only the opponent player involved who engaged in the violent act.
3) Did your team throw any punches or engage in any other form of violence?
Ethan Loo(no. 25) was the nearest player to the scene and he acted the quickest to push Iskandar Abdullah(no. 12) of PFC away before he attempted to commit the violent act a second time.
4) Which players from your team threw punches (if any) or engage in any other form of violence?
Ethan Loo(no. 25) of Everyday Sunday FC. His only act of violence was to stop Iskandar Abdullah(no. 12) of PFC by pushing him away from another attempt to kick a downed player. NO punch was thrown from Ethan Loo.
5) Which team threw the first punch ?
Pakiyoko FC
6) What caused the incident to happen?
In the 85th minute, the player(myself, no. 11) from ESFC attempted to tackle the ball away from Iskandar Abdullah(no. 12) of PFC. Unfortunately, the attempt was mistimed and hence resulted in a clash with Iskandar Abdullah(no. 12) of PFC. While the player(myself, no. 11) from ESFC was on the ground, Iskandar Abdullah(no. 12) of PFC retaliated by swinging his right foot towards the face of the ESFC player. His foot hit the shoulder and chest of the ESFC player and, fortunately, missed the face by a few inches.
7) What time was the incident and what was the score at the time of the incident?
Approximately 80th to 85th minute. At that time, scoreline was 3-0 in favor of Pakiyoko FC
8) Any other information you think is important to inform ESPZEN
There was no intention from the ESFC players to commit any form of violence and the only motivation was to make sure the downed player was not attacked the second time. Retaliation was never in the minds of ESFC. Protection was.
Pakiyoko FC Report
I refer to the earlier email to our club on the incident which happened on the 20th Nov 2011, 11.00 am at Yusof Ishak Secondary School, a match between our club, Pakiyoko FC, VS Everyday Sunday FC.
First and foremost, as the captain of Pakiyoko FC, I would like to apologize for the unfortunate event. In no way my managers, nor I, condone the retaliation of my player, Iskandar Abdullah (12). I will make sure he will be put to task for his outburst, we will definitely enforce disciplinary actions (match ban) on him after the whole matter is settled (with ESPZEN).
On the whole, the game went on like any other games. By now, you would have learnt that, Iskandar had scored three goals making the game pretty much ours.
As a player, he is blessed with blistering speed and wonderful dribbling skills. He loves to take players on and naturally that would put a big target on his back, like all other games, this one was no different. He was brought down almost every time he took the opponent’s defense on.
About five minutes towards the end, Iskandar broke free at the bylines (left) and just as he made it past the opponents’ half, Jason Ang (11) of Everyday Sunday FC, made a two-footed tackle on Iskandar from behind.
Immediately after Iskandar was brought down, he got up and in the spur of the moment, kicked Jason Ang on his chest, the only reason it landed there was Jason Ang was still in a sitting position. Again, it was unacceptable what Iskandar did, but that was more of a build up of the tackles he has taken more than anything else.
As a result, there was a reaction from the opponent’s side, Ethen Loo (25) of Everyday Sunday FC, ran towards Iskandar who was making his way out of the pitch, in a confrontational manner with his hands raised. Fortunately, players from both sides stopped him. Everyone from both teams did not want the matter to escalate and the aftermath ended abruptly with no assaults what so ever. Ethen Loo was also sent off for his actions.
The Referee had marshaled the game well throughout and handled the “incident” well. The only doubtful call the referee has made (in my opinion) was probably giving Jason Ang a yellow for a red card tackle.
I am sure that we have maintained a good reputation in our years of participation in ESPZEN. This was our only sending off as far as I can remember. If our good opponents think that we have been disrespectful towards them, I apologize and I would like to know in what sense. Soccer after all, is a contact sport. We can’t win them all, albeit, not everyday is Sunday (no pun intended).
If there is anything disrespectful, it’s that they have been very brief in their Match Report and two faced about the whole thing. After the match, we shook hands, and now they turn around and write in for a violent conduct? We have been straight about the whole thing throughout, and even put it up like it is. Iskandar deserved a red card for his action, which he did.
Below is our response to your queries:
1) Players involved in the incident from the opponent team –
- Jason Ang (11), Ethen Loo (25)
2) Did the opponent team throw any punches or engage in any other form of violence?
- No.
3) Did your team throw any punches or engage in any other form of violence?
- No.
4) Which players from your team threw punches (if any) or engage in any other form of violence?
- N.A.
5) Which team threw the first punch ?
- N.A.
6) What caused the incident to happen?
- As described above
7) What time was the incident and what was the score at the time of the incident?
- As described above
8) Any other information you think is important to inform ESPZEN
- As described above
With all that said, we are a team who leaves everything on the pitch. Never had any match turned personal. I will assist in whatever ways possible and hope that no further actions will be taken against Pakiyoko FC as a team, nor Iskandar as a player.
Referee Report
With regards to the game between Parkiyoko and Everyday Sunday, 11am at Yusof Ishak Sec School.
On 33 mins, Parkiyoko's Iskandar Abdullah approach a high ball but was foul by Jason Ang (I think so base on the player's list picture). Perhaps due to the reckless challenge, Iskandar Abdullah was furious with the mistimed tackle and launch a flying kick which landed on Jason's chest. At this point of time, Jason's team mate Ethan Loo rush towards Iskandar with both hand pushing him on his chest backward with excessive force.
Both team control the player and took couple of minutes to calm down.
Both Iskandar (violent conduct) and Ethan (Man Handling) was caution with red card and send off. Jason was caution with a yellow card for the reckless/mistime tackle on Iskandar.
Thereafter, the game commence and ended in full 80 mins with 2 minutes added time.
I hope the above information help the organiser and please contact me if you need further verification.
ESPZEN COMMENTS
ESPZEN has neither cameras nor video evidence to be able comment on the remarks made by any team manager in such incident reports and generally speaking teams may cite off the ball incidents that may or may not have occurred. If the referee in charge did not see an off the ball incident then equally, the referee cannot comment and ESPZEN can take no further action regarding citations by team managers not witnessed by the referee.
If ESPZEN was to react to every off the ball incident based on a team manager hearsay then our leagues would become impossible to manage. As such, ESPZEN base all incident report conclusions on the evidence of both teams and where facts may be distorted or ambiguous between two reports, we rely on the report of the referee as the neutral party and furthermore the referee is the entrusted official of the ESPZEN league.
ESPZEN is very disappointed to learn of the said unfortunate incident, incidents such as the above does not provide a good image & support the objectives of the ESPZEN league to its audience and third parties.
Unfortunate occurrences such as this can jeopardize ESPZEN relationship with pitch providers. If the pitches are withdrawn from ESPZEN booking, this would then lead to us having to adopt 3rd rate pitches for our leagues which would signal the start of the end for our company. We will not let any player nor team destroy our relationship.
A referees role on the field of play is very difficult being the only official present, both team managers should always control their players and let the referee deal with certain incidents on the pitch at all times
ESPZEN has a clearly defined policy for Off the Ball Violence
Off The Ball Violent Conduct
OTB1. Should a player or players from a team be “red carded” for an act of violence (excluding the initial challenge for the ball – see OTB2) with the direct intention to cause serious injury (regardless of whether the player was the initial aggressor or not) the player will be suspended for a number of games (which ESPZEN will decide depending on the incident). The team may also be warned regarding the behaviour of their players on the field of play and in addition the team will also be deducted one league point.
OTB2. Note: the initial challenge for the ball is defined as two or more players competing for the ball. This is excluded from OTB1 as the referee will manage this situation on the field of play however should other incidents occur as a direct consequence of this incident or other off the ball incidents, these will be captured by the above ruling. Should a referee however feel there was serious intent from the initial challenge this can be highlighted to ESPZEN by the referee concerned only.
OTB3. Not more than one league point will be deducted from a team if it’s their first offence in a given season, however teams with repeat offenders may be deducted further points.
OTB4. An Off The Ball Violent Incident report must be submitted by email by one of the teams concerned in the game within 48hrs to ESPZEN. Incident reports submitted after 48hrs will be kept on file however no league point deduction will take, however ESPZEN will still (if confirmed by the referee) take action against the players involved in the incident. The incident report should only cite those players who were red carded by the referee.
The ruling is in place to ensure team managers do not select volatile players who could cause their team to lose vital league points or team managers substitute hot tempered players off the pitch when there is a chance a game is heating up. ESPZEN believe that peer pressure from within a team is the “most effective” control to ensure all games are played in the right spirit.
ESPZEN CONCLUDES
Ø Ishkandar Abdullah of Pakiyoko FC is given a 3 league match suspension effective immediately for “Off The Ball Violent Conduct” as per Rule OTB 1.
Ø Pakiyoko FC are deducted 1 league point for the “Off The Ball Violent Conduct” by Ishkandar Abdullah as per Rule OTB 1. Ø Ethan Loo of Everyday Sunday FC is given a 2 league match suspension effective immediately, as he should not have got involved in the incident, which potentially could then have lead to a free for all. The referee had the situation under control and would have dismissed Iskandar for his actions.
ESPZEN acknowledges the intention of Pakiyoko FC’s to deal with this incident internally after the conclusion of this incident report, which ESPZEN applauds and we trust this is indeed an isolated incident and out of character of the player.The purpose of ESPZEN Leagues is to provide a professional, competitive, and fun platform in which to enjoy our favourite sport. The threat of physical violence or overly excessive verbal abuse between players or players and officials will NOT be tolerated under any circumstance in ESPZEN nor in the game of football.
ESPZEN has a history of removing teams whose behavior is not sporting on a regular basis. ESPZEN sincerely hopes that Pakiyoko FC will not let such a situation arise again in future and will try to salvage a positive outcome from the above situation.
Please use this as a reminder to all their players to not let the actions of an individual impact the teams overall performance and that such behaviour will NOT be tolerated in ESPZEN leagues.
There is no right of appeal to the findings above and the issue is now considered closed.
The website is now updated.
Regards,
ESPZEN
