Guan United have been fined an amount of GHc500.00 for withdrawing from the Elite Club Cup competition.
Guan United’s notification of withdrawal from the Elites Clubs Club sent on February 16, 2015 and signed by Enoch Agyare Addo (Administrative Secretary) to the Ghana Football Association fell short of the mandatory eight (8) days period required under Article 14(2) of the GFA General Regulations.
The Club was invited to the Disciplinary Committee to justify why it should not be sanctioned for the club’s failure to comply with GFA regulations on withdrawal under Articles 14(2) of the GFA General Regulations.
DEFENCE
Guan United in its defence pleaded guilty to the misconduct and pleaded for leniency. Guan United explained that it was not the club’s intention to send the notification late to the GFA but that the date of notification for the match was very short.
Mr. Kofi Manu, who represented the club (together with Abubakari Yussif – Team Manager) mentioned further that the club was very responsible and assured the Committee that the incident will never happen again.
REASONS FOR DECISION
The Article 14 of the General Regulations states as follows:
Article 14(1) “It shall be misconduct for a club to withdraw from a competition after the competition has started without just cause”.
Article 14(2) “Any club intending to withdraw from any competition must give notice of its intention to do so to the GFA not later than eight (8) days before the commencement of the competition. Should a club fail to comply with this rule the Association shall have the power to compel such offending club to refund any expenses incurred and take such further action as it may deem fit”.
Article 14(3) “Without prejudice to any provision in these Regulations, the GFA reserves the right to take appropriate disciplinary action, including expulsion, against any club which withdraws from a competition or fails to honour any match without just cause”.
The Committee however, held the view that Guan United has violated the provisions of Article 14(3) of the General Regulations even though the club had stated the circumstances which forced its hands to withdraw from the competition.
The Committee was satisfied with the plea of guilty by Guan United. The Committee also took notice of the plea for leniency by Guan United and the reasons given by the club for their late withdrawal from the competition.
DECISION
In view of the fact that Guan United had already been declared losers of the tie by the Elites Clubs Committee, the Committee makes the following decisions:
1. That Guan United is hereby fined an amount of Five Hundred Ghana Cedis (GHc500.00) to be paid to the Ghana Football Association within fourteen (14) days from the date of receipt of this Decision failing which the club shall automatically forfeit all subsequent matches after the said deadline in accordance with Article 39(8)(b) of the First Amendment to the GFA General Regulations.
2. That should Guan United be dissatisfied with this Decision, the club has within three (3) days of being notified of this Decision to appeal to the Appeals Committee (See Article 37(11) of the General Regulations of the GFA).
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