Springdale's letter to the PFF appealing the ban

(This is Springdale's letter to the PFF)

February 1, 2012           

Philippine Football Federation (PFF)
27 Danny Floro corner Captain Henry Javier streets, Oranbo,
1600 Pasig City


RE:    Cebu Football Association (CFA) Sanction on Springdale Football Club

Gentlemen:

We respectfully bring to your attention and consideration the above stated matter in connection with the 14th Aboitiz Football Cup tournament in Cebu where the CFA served as Tournament organizer. 

The said incident arose from the scheduled game last January 7, 2012 involving our Boys U14 category against Blessed John Seminary team where we were declared in default, despite the fact that the organizers granted a 15-minute time extension and our players arrived within the extended time.  To express our dismay on how our boys were unfairly treated, the said undesirable incident was the subject of our formal letter withdrawal from the tournament, a copy of which is attached hereto for reference.

We received a letter dated January 31, 2012 from the CFA dubbed as their “Official Statement” stating their reason for the declaration of default after the supposed finding of fact, a copy of which is also attached for reference.  We wish to emphasize that this supposed “fact” was arrived at without any form of fair investigation on CFA's part.  If the organizers (i.e. CFA) were only fair and respectful of the basic requirements of due process, a proper investigation should have been conducted to thresh out the truth of the matter.

Moreover, we also received a letter of the same date from the CFA imposing upon our school football club as well as our coach, Mr. Mario Ceniza, the sanction of “THREE (3) YEARS from participating in Cebu Football Association and Philippine Football Federation organized/sanctioned tournaments, courses and football related activities, is imposed effective immediately...”, a copy of said letter is also hereto attached.

The imposition of the above harsh penalty upon our school and our head coach only shows the apparent unfairness and bias of the incumbent officers of the CFA against us which is clearly not  in consonance with the PFF's Catalogue of Punishments.  We refer to Item 6 of the Introduction of the Catalogue of Punishments which mandates the “Tournament Committee to see to it that the punishments are carried out according to the catalogue” and item IV (7) which sets the maximum suspension for a team withdrawing to only six (6) months.


We are aware that the current committee chairman of the grassroots development of the PFF is the same President/Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the CFA and we take this opportunity to show our concern that the way this matter against our boys’ school may leave a bad mark on PFF's implementation of grassroots development here in Cebu.

We look forward to your immediate and fair action on the above matter.

Thank you.



Very truly yours,


Ric R. Ampiloquio
Executive Director


cc:


Cebu Football Association (CFA)
37 F. Cabahug Street, Mabolo, Cebu City


Mr. Sonny Carpio
EVP and Managing Trustee
ABOITIZ FOUNDATION
Organizer
ABOITIZ FOOTBALL CUP (14th Season)
Banilad, Cebu City