The identified and those not

After the recent spate of disciplinary measures by the ASA disciplinary commissioner acting on reports of referees and some association officials, questions arise as to why certain individuals were not identified while others were.

One will argue that in case offenders are not singled out and brought to book there is the mechanism of the clubs concerned being fined.

It must be pointed out that in certain cases there was irrefutable evidence as to who the offenders were. Yet they escaped without being reported either by the referees or the ASA officials.

In one instance a goalkeeper was clearly seen insulting the referee on the pool deck and indicating by his gestures that he was bribed. This was done repeatedly in front of the officials’ table. Yet no report by the referees and neither by any ASA official was filed.

The same goes for a number of players who approached the table after another match and hurled offensive language at the referees and the association’s officials.

Abusive language was also used in another instance by a group of supporters in the VIP area and directly on top of the table. They insulted the ASA officials while threatening words were clearly addressed to one of the referees.

Strangely, no one was identified and reported even though in one instance it is understood that the ASA was handed video clips (upon request) by TVM of players misbehaving at length on the pool deck.

Meanwhile other offenders were readily identified by the referees or ASA officials and rightly brought to book. Here there is also the attendant possibility of clubs being docked points if these offenders do not observe the ban from all ASA activities imposed on them.

The bottom line is that this smacks either of incompetence or discrimination. Justice must be done with everyone without fear or favour otherwise the ASA code of discipline, which incidentally requires a thorough overhaul, will be nothing more than a sham.