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SINGAPORE: The cost to a club for walking out of an S.League match: $30,000 and six points docked.
That was the punishment meted out to Woodlands Wellington FC Thursday night by the four-man disciplinary committee set up by the S.League to investigate the incident last Wednesday, when the Rams abandoned their match with Tampines Rovers in the 60th minute in protest at some of the decisions made by referee P Pandian.
No doubt, the surprisingly swift end to proceedings was down to the appearance of Woodlands chairman Francis Gomez at the hearing.
While he was not called to provide any statement or to appear as a witness on Thursday night, Gomez arrived at the Football Association of Singapore's (FAS) headquarters at Jalan Besar Stadium just before proceedings started at 8pm and asked to face the disciplinary committee before anyone else.
The committee, made up of chairman K Balachandran, deputy chairman Wee Pan Lee, Alan Wee and Intekhab Khan, agreed, and 40 minutes later, Gomez emerged from the hearing but refused to answer any questions.
But according to sources, he had admitted to ordering his players to get off the field and took responsibility for the whole incident. It is also understood that he pleaded for leniency for the 10 Woodlands players charged, as well as coach Jorg Steinebrunner.
For his action, Gomez was fined S$10,000 and cannot attend any S.League matches until the end of the year.
Steinbrunner was fined S$2,000 for "causing/encouraging his team members to walk out of the field of play", while club captain Jerry Bartholomeusz was also fined S$1,500.
Nine other Woodlands players were fined S$1,000 each.
In the Sep 5 clash with Tampines at Woodlands Stadium, the Rams walked out en masse in the 60th minute moments after Tampines had taken a 2-0 lead.
The walkout, the first of its kind in the history of the 12-year-old S.League, sparked some unrest in the stands, as fans rained down bottles and screamed abuse.
The Woodlands team stayed in their dressing room and no amount of persuasion by S.League officials could get them to retake the field.
Following on from the incident, the Super Reds walked out of the pitch in their S.League clash with the Young Lions 48 hours later to protest a free-kick decision.
The team only took to the field after 10 minutes when the club chairman Charlie Yoon intervened.
Speaking after the verdict was announced, Balachandran said: "In hindsight, I don't think anybody at Woodlands realised the full implication of their acts, but it has affected the name of the S.League and the sponsors.
"In the end, they apologised and although they tried to justify their actions because of the referee, it is no excuse to cause a walkout.
"This is the first time we faced such a situation in the league and I think we've sent a stark warning to the other clubs."
The S.League will now hold a disciplinary hearing for the Super Reds incident, but a date has not been set yet. - TODAY/ac
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