-team not disqualified for fielding ineligible player
By Michaelangelo Jacobus
The ExxonMobil-sponsored New Era Futsal competition currently underway in Linden has come under scrutiny following a controversial administrative decision from the organisers, who instead of disqualifying a team for fielding an ineligible player, opted to strike off goals scored in a game played by the individual, resulting in the elimination of another side.
Playing in a decisive Group D match on Saturday night at the Retrieve Tarmac, Hard Knocks faced Turf Presidents, with the game ending in an 8-8 draw. However, during the fixture, according to tournament official Aubrey Major Jr., who spoke to Stabroek Sport, a referee stopped the game after Jermin Junor (playing for Hard Knocks) scored, due to the player not being a part of the referees’ team list. This was however cleared up by the organisers, who had allowed Junor (a guest player) to be swapped for another guest player due to severe injuries the latter sustained before the tournament began.
While the game between Hard Knocks and Turf Presidents continued, Emmanuel Atkins, captain of the Germans, who were also a part of Group D, lodged a protest in relation to the organisers allowing Junor to play after his team was denied the opportunity to swap a player from their roster during the earlier rounds.
As the game initially ended 8-8 with Junor scoring two goals for Hard Knocks, the organisers, after a meeting on Sunday morning, then decided to have Junor’s goals disallowed, handing Turf Presidents the unprecedented 8-6 win. With that result, it meant that despite the loss, both Turf Presidents and Hard Knocks qualified for the quarterfinal segment on goal difference after the duo and Germans ended on six points, respectively.
Although it is customary for teams who have fielded ineligible players or breached tournament rules to be disqualified, the organisers have opted to allow the team to continue playing the tournament, but the player who wasn’t registered prior to the start of the event can no longer participate.
Notably, the tournament does not have any rules that speak to the issue of ineligible players or the resulting consequences for this occurrence. The event also does not have any rules that apply to removing goals from score-lines.
This is also the second incident of a team having goals removed from the eventual result after the conclusion of the match for fielding an ineligible player.
To this end, the Germans are questioning the organisers’ decision to allow Hard Knocks to continue playing the tournament instead of disqualifying them for the infraction. However, according to Major, the coordinating team does not see an issue with the decision made, however strange it may seem.
Aggrieved by the decision of the tournament officials, the German team decided to contact ExxonMobil Community Relations Advisor Ryan Hoppie to register their complaint and seek possible recourse.
The email read, “Dear Mr. Hoppie, In partaking in the ExxonMobil New Era entertainment futsal tournament, my team has experienced an unfair and biased act whereby we got knocked out due to another team’s and a member of the organisation’s negligence. In the midst of the game with Turf president and Hard Knocks, the ref had stopped the game due to the fact that there was a player on the field whose name wasn’t on the team’s list, which is Hard-Knocks team. With that, Mr. [Colin] Aaron had sanctioned and granted permission for the player to play. In conclusion, the game was drawn. Therefore, my team, which is Germans, would’ve gone through to the quarterfinals. Without informing my team (Germans), we saw the game fixtures had come out and my team was not on the list to participate in the quarterfinals. When querying, the organisers had told us that the name of the player whose name wasn’t on Hard-Knocks team, [that] his goals was denied, so Turf President got the victory without notifying my team or the referees.
After playing hard to make it this far in the tournament, my team decided that we’re not taking such unfair and biased treatment, so we decided that we’re going to protest.”
Up to press time last evening, Stabroek Sport was informed that Hoppie was yet to reply to the Germans’ email.
