CebuFa: stiff fines for walkouts

CEBU Football Association (CebuFA) president Jonathan Maximo warned that coaches and teams who walks out of the coming Aboitiz Cup will face possible banishment from football.

This time, teams won't also be able to use the ruse of not 'literally walking out' as the CebuFA will follow the guidelines set by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) for the 12-under and 15-under tournament of the Aboitiz Cup which kicks off this weekend at the Cebu International School (CIS).

Last Sunday, the University of Cebu abandoned their football match against the University of San Jose Recoletos in the the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Incorporated (Cesafi) with 28 minutes left and the game tied at 1-1. It was the third incident to hit Cesafi after the brawl in basketball and another incident involving a drunken parent in volleyball.

Despite pleas from tournament manager Bro. Mari Aberasturi, UC refused to play and a win was awarded to USJ-R. Aberasturi will pass a report to the Cesafi board for possible sanctions against UC. Since it was also a CebuFA-sanctioned event, the penalties Cesafi will mete will be carried over to the Aboitiz League.

"Teams who walk out of the Aboitiz will suspended, fined or banned," Maximo said during the Scoop forum at Baseline restaurant.

Should Ramos and his team be suspended or banned from the Cesafi, they will not be allowed in the Aboitiz Cup.

Per guidelines of the PFF, a walkout is "when the whole team abandons the field of play as a demonstration of their protest or if a whole team refuses to continue the match,"

UC coach Glen Ramos, a former national team mainstay, has since contended that they did not walk out last Sunday because they were still in the venue and that he only called the players out to cool them down as the game was getting to rough. A USJ-R striker was ejected in the first half and three other players cautioned for various offenses.

"The guidelines is like the bible for the PFF matches, it is what we will follow," Maximo said.

The guidelines continues that the offending "team shall be excluded from further participation in the tournament and that further penalties will be decided by the disciplinary committee and the right to protest or appeal by the team shall also be forfeited."

The CebuFA's disciplinary committee is head by CIS' Mark Bretherton, who has shown he is not afraid to crack the whip as he recommended a three-match ban on seven players who figured in a brawl last year.

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