by Alder Almo
The United Football League (UFL) deferred the scheduled continuation of the match between Kaya and Stallion to a later date instead of tomorrow (Tuesday).
UFL Chairman Santi Araneta confirmed this in his Twitter account (@santiaraneta) this afternoon.
"Due to the severity and impact to future games, the UFL Technical Committee had opted to defer the Kaya-Stallion game tomorrow," Araneta said.
"Both Kaya and Stallion agree that this decision is not about the outcome of last Saturday's game but for the future UFL games to come," he added.
This morning, it was announced that Kaya and Stallion will resume from the 64th minute where the match was stopped due to lightning and thunderstorm.
UFL, however, had to recall its decision due to "no hard rule on the incident and too many loose ends" as Araneta further explained in his tweets.
Kaya was leading 1-nil on a first half goal by Eric "The Dagger" Dagroh in the match until lightning and thunderstorm plagued the venue prompting the match commissioner to stop it and observe the weather condition.
Some minutes later, both teams agreed to postpone it indefinitely as the weather did not cooperate.
Global caught Kaya on top with 18 points each after its 5-3 win over defending champion Air Force-Phoenix in the first match last Saturday.
philstar
I agree that the decision is not about the outcome of the abandon match between the 2 clubs but is all about interpreting, and applying the rules correctly in accordance with FIFA rules and the UFL league Rules.
ReplyDeleteThe UFL League Rules provides that “In the case of an abandoned match, the ExCom shall decide within twenty‐four (24) hours of the Referee’s decision to abandon the match whether the match result at the time of abandonment is valid or whether a replay shall be organized, taking sporting and organizational considerations into account. “
FIFA Law of the Game provides that “An abandoned match is replayed unless the competition rules provide otherwise.’
Since the UFL rules do not have any precise and explicit rules pertaining to matches interrupted before the completion of normal playing time or extra time due to bad weather or for reasons beyond the control of the teams and organizers then Law 7 of the laws of the games must be applied as the UFL rules also states that the League shall be played in accordance with the applicable rules of FIFA except as specifically modified.
To expound further, the exact phrase found in the UFL Rules and FIFA Rules “whether the match result at the time of abandonment is valid or whether a replay shall be organized, taking sporting and organizational considerations into account“means that for any official match to be valid it must complete the full 90 minutes of normal playing time. If the match is not played in its entirety then the Organizing Committee or the Excom in the case of UFL will determine the validity of the match result at the time of abandonment.
In determining the validity of the match results FIFA states that if a match is interrupted before the completion of normal playing time or extra time because of extreme weather or for reasons outside the control of the host association, a replay lasting 90 minutes shall be arranged for the following day. If it is still impossible to play the match the next day for the same reasons, the match may be postponed by another day, provided both associations agree. During the past FIFA Asian WCQ the match between Syria and Tajikistan had to be abandoned at the 72 minute due to electrical failure and at the time of abandonment Syria was leading 3-1. Since neither team caused the abandonment of the game the match was replayed (full 90 minutes) the following day and the result being 2-1 for Syria.
On the other hand FIFA states if through the fault or negligence of any team, a match cannot take place in its entirety, FIFA shall declare the match forfeited and award the victory to the opposing team (not- guilty party) and the resultant 3 points to the opposing team or greater, depending on the score in the time of abandonment. On July 2011 FIFA Asian WCQ – the match between Myanmar and Oman was abruptly interrupted in the 42 +2 minutes after local Myanmar supporters repeatedly hurled objects on to the field and making it impossible to resume match. FIFA awarded the game to Oman and Myanmar thus disqualified as Myanmar as host association was responsible for the abandonment of the game. The decision of FIFA to award the victory to Oman as stated in the FIFA rules officially validated the match although the full 90 minutes was not played.
There are some who cited some European matches that were abandoned because of bad weather condition and yet a replay was not required the clubs were only required to play the remaining minutes of the game.
ReplyDeleteThe UEFA has its own modified rules regarding this situation. The rule states “ if the referee decides to abandon the match, for example because the field is unfit for play, the remaining match time must be played either the next day, or on a reserve date or other date set by the UEFA administration.”
UEFA maintained the same FIFA ruling regarding matches that have been abandoned due to negligence or a team or host causing the abandonment of the match.
The most important point is that FIFA rules are applied unless the league rules provide otherwise. No rules may be altered during the duration of the league to maintain the integrity and credibility of the league.