Kota Kinabalu: Sabah faces the dilemma of forfeiting three points without playing their Super League match against national side, Harimau Muda A, after match officials hastily postponed the fixture at the Likas Stadium here, last night.
The match, which was scheduled to start at 8.15pm, was cancelled at 8.05pm after match official, Nagor Amir Noor Mohamad found that certain condiction on the field were not satisfactory to Football Association of Malaysia (FAM)'s regulations.
According Sabah FA Secretary General, Alijus Sipil, Nagor made the decision to cancel the match after finding that the white lines at critical areas on the pitch were not visible enough for the match to proceed.
"They (match officials) cancelled the match hastily without even giving us the chance to make the lines more visible. It was the wrong decision," said Alijus.
Similar situations have occurred at the Likas Stadium in the past but never has a match official cancelled the fixture outright without giving the home team a chance to make improvements on the dissatisfactory conditions.
"According to some of our senior officials, this has happened in the past but the match official during that time allowed us to improve the conditions on the field instead of cancelling the match outright," said Alijus.
He told reporters this when met shortly after the announcement to cancel the match.
The stature of the opponents that the home team was scheduled to clash with perhaps gave reason to the match officials to put the field conditions under strict scrutiny.
But in all fairness, cancelling the match outright seemed a far cry from justice to the home team and some 3,000 local supporters who eagerly waited for the match to start.
It was a rare opportunity for local football fans to see the national side in action and perhaps more than anything, this was their cause of disappointment.
An inspection on the field by this reporter confirmed that some of the lines were not 100 percent visible, though visible enough (without doubt) for the eye of a trained and certified FAM official to allow the match to go on.
"The least they could have done was give us a chance to highlight the lines to be more visible. The most it would take to do this is 20 minutes," said Alijus.
"The Sabah FA will not accept this decision and would not sit without objecting the repercussions that may follow from the wrong decision that was made tonight," added Alijus.
Following the cancelation, Sabah may have to forfeit the three points from this fixture.
On top of that they may also face a three point deduction as well as be made to compensate expenses incurred by the visiting side.
Such a decision if allowed to sustain would be tragic for the home team, who is currently sitting in 11th place on five points.
The Sabah FA also faced huge complications in arranging refunds for those who turned up at the stands.
Those who wish to refund their tickets can do so at the Sabah FA office (at the Maksak Hall in Likas) on Monday. Alternatively they can use last night's tickets for the next home fixture against Perak on April 9.
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