This appears in the Thursday, May 10, 2012 edition of the Business Mirror.
PFF Appeals Committee upholds suspension on footballer Matthew
Hartmann
by rick olivares
Matthew Hartmann will be suspended for the period of January to
December 2012 and will be banned from participation from the Philippine Men's
Football National Team. That was the verdict promulgated by the Appeals
Committee of the Philippine Football Federation yesterday after the PFF's
Disciplinary Committee released its decision to suspend Hartmann last January
25.
Hartmann was suspended for abandoning the national team during
the stint in the last Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. Hartmann
said that he left due to a row with national team head coach Michael
Weiss.
In a letter to PFF President Mariano V. Araneta with Loyola
authorities copied in the letter, Appeals Committee Chairman, Atty. Gregorio
Larrazabal decided "to affirm the decision of the Disciplinary Committee
in imposing a ban on Mr. Hartmann in joining the national team; and to modify
the decision of the Disciplinary Committee in its decision imposing an
indefinite ban on any football club or organization from fielding him in any
PFF sanctioned tournaments, and limits the ban to one year, to be reckoned from
the date of the Decision of the Disciplinary Committee. The period, for which
the case was pending before the Appeals Committee, is to be considered as a portion
of the period of the ban."
Loyola Meralco club president Lorenzo Roxas was disappointed
with the decision as he felt that "the club suspension has no basis."
With Loyola missing its two Korean players -- midfielders Jeong Byeong-Yeol and Park Min-Ho -- due to contracting dengue fever, Roxas
was looking forward to have Hartmann back in time for the club's match with
Kaya this weekend as well as for next week when the Sparks compete in the first
leg of the Singapore Cup against Geylang United on May 18.
Hartmann said he will air his side in a few days' time.
----------------------
Additional reading:
An appeal from Matt Hartmann:
On the suspension of Matt Hartmann
Help me understand this. Matthew Hartmann is banned for one year from playing for any club and banned forever from playing with the national team.
ReplyDeleteBanning him from the national team forever is fair. But banning him from playing in any club for a year is too harsh.
I don't know his side of the story, only that he and Weiss had a disagreement. Still, that isn't reason enough to abandon the team, especially when you're the captain. In a sinking ship, the captain is always the last to go.
Now it's a different matter altogether if it was Weiss who asked him to leave. Which is highly unlikely. But who knows?
Exactly we dont know his side of the story I think he should tell it, maybe then we'd all understand.
ReplyDelete