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| EFF decides to give controversial trophy to Coffee club |
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| Saturday, 08 November 2008 | |
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By a Staff Reporter In its statement, EFF noted that the 2007/08 season super-cup match was held between the two clubs on October 29 and November 2. However, the federation had evidence that St. George fielded a Tanzanian goalkeeper without an international certificate of transfer (ICT), a work and residence permit offered by pertinent bodies of the government. The federation said that it lifted a penality of 50,000 birr that was imposed on St. George club. Additionaly, it also cancelled the club manager's suspension for one year because the club had already notified the transfer process to the federation. Pursuant to its statute and disciplinary guide, EFF said, it had decided that the previous point secured by St. George was canceled and Ethiopian Coffee would be given 3 points and 3 goals, which enabled it to win the trophy. In the October 29 match, Ethiopian Coffee defeated St. George 2-1. The federation decided that the trophy, which was already awarded to St. George Club after the controversial result, be returned to the federation’s office by November 11. The federation also said that the exact date of the re-awarding ceremony to Ethiopian Coffee will be announced to the public in near future. With regard to the match referee, Selamu Bekele, the federation said that it would give a decision based on referees’ committee final findings. The committee is currently seeing the case against the referee and it will make a decision based on tangible evidence. The result will be public within a short period of time, the federation said. EFF said that the Ethiopian Coffee Sport Club was fined a sum of 5,000 birr due to supporters’ misbehavior. It said the club’s supporters were disturbing peace by entering the pitch and hurling insults at players, which was against the principles of sports. In addition, the federation warned the club to control fans in the future. It is to be recalled that early this week Abdurazak Sherif, board chairperson of the Ethiopian Coffee Sport Club, had tendered his resignation following the incident that took place over the weekend. He said that the situation was not opportune to continue under such a kind of pressure when only one club is wanted to be the winner all the time. Last week’s super-cup match between the two long-time rival clubs had attracted thousands of football fans. However, despite the fans' and players', effort to create a better atmosphere for the struggling local football, many agreed that what was going on in the pitch where a lot of mistakes were made by the referee was confusing. A long-time fan of St. George, Abate Habte, who was supporting the club for more than 40 years, told The Reporter that last week’s “victory” was shameful. He said he had never seen his club win a competition with a shameful manner like that one. He said, “I am very sorry for the whole thing that has happened last week, and it is time for me to quit going to Addis Ababa Stadium to see the indignity of the famous club, which was founded by prominent sports personalities like the late Yidnekatchew Tessema.” Girum Seyoum, captain of the Ethiopian Coffee club, who was sent off through a red card at Sunday’s match, told The Reporter that the incident was the first in his football life. “Time and again I was telling the referee that he was pressuring us, and to control the game in a proper way. But he denied us penalties when our strikers wrongly tackled and also did not take an action when St. George’s goalkeeper handled the ball out of the box, for which he was shown a yellow card.” Girum seems unhappy because of not only that particular game. If the trend continued in this manner, the fate of Ethiopian football would be jeopardized. “We are seeing the new federation that was anticipated to bring change, but there is nothing. It is an insult to football fans to see this kind of embarrassing act and we urge the government to bring about a solution at this serious moment,” he added. Officials of the Ethiopian Coffee Sport Club have condemned last week’s incident by noting that the club was frequently exposed to injustices made by the Ethiopian Football Federation. They said, “We were anxious for a long time how to attract football fans, who had distanced themselves from stadiums, and making efforts to prevail for fair play. Unfortunately, unbelievable crimes were committed to get trophy in an illegal way, which kills the hope of Ethiopian football.” By the time the paper went to press, the responses of both clubs were not available. |
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