NFL players, Yishun club punished for Nov 12 brawl
NFL club Yishun Sentek Mariners Football Club posing for a team photo ahead of their Singapore Pools FA Cup semi-final against Safsa on Oct 19, 2017. Photo: Facebook / Yishun Sentek Mariners
SINGAPORE – National Football League (NFL) Division 1 champions Yishun Sentek Mariners have been fined S$5,000 and hit with a five-point penalty by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) disciplinary committee (DC) for their involvement in a Nov 12 brawl with the Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association (Safsa).
The club could also face further sanctions, an additional S$5,000 fine and five-point penalty if they get into any more disciplinary problems this season.
In a statement posted on its Twitter account late on Monday night (Jan 29), the FAS said: “The FAS Disciplinary Committee today concluded their findings and reached a verdict on the case involving Safsa and Yishun Sentek Mariners FC that occurred on 12 Nov 2017.
“The verdict was announced to all involved parties. Details of the sanctions to be announced in due course.”
TODAY understands that eight Yishun players were also handed fines of between S$300 to S$1,000, and suspensions ranging from four to 15 months.
Of the three Safsa players charged by the DC, two were fined S$300 and suspended for four months, while one only received a warning.
The DC’s verdict comes over two months after the brawl between the NFL sides, which saw the police called in to the Jalan Besar Stadium after a top-of-the-table clash between the two Division 1 teams descended into a mass brawl between players from both sides. The fight took place almost immediately after Sentek Mariners defender Zulfadhli Suzliman was sent off for kicking Safsa’s Nazirul Islam late in the second half of the match with Safsa leading 3-2.
This was not the first time that the NFL had been hit by trouble on the pitch. In October last year, a Singapore FA Cup match between Safsa and Balestier United Recreation Club was stopped, and eventually abandoned, after a fight broke out between players.
Balestier was banned from competing in the FA Cup for two years and fined S$1,000. Three players were fined S$500 each and banned from all FAS-sanctioned matches and tournaments until Dec 31, 2017. Two other players from Balestier were also banned from all matches till June 30, 2017.
The worst brawl in local football occurred between S-League clubs Beijing Guoan Talent and the Young Lions in 2010, which saw both teams slapped with a fine of S$5,000 each and a five-point penalty for their involvement.
Sixteen footballers received fines of between S$1,000 to S$3,000, and were handed bans ranging from four months to a year.
