THE Barbados Defence Force (BDF) Development Team has been slapped with a two-year ban for withdrawing from the 2010 Digicel Premier League football season.
And former outstanding former national footballers Horace Stoute and Colin “Potato” Forde, who are now coaches, have also been censured by the Barbados Football Association’s (BFA) disciplinary committee.
In the BFA’s annual report, which was circulated to delegates attending last Sunday’s annual general meeting at Solidarity House, chairman of the disciplinary committee LeVere Richards explained that the BDF Development Team had been suspended for breaching rule 7C and rule 8A of the 2010 BFA’s tournament rules, by withdrawing from the competition without permission.
“The disciplinary committee decided that this debarment is not applicable to the individual players but to the BDF Sports Programme, as the players were not responsible for the decision to withdraw.”
Stoute, a long-standing Barbados goalkeeper, has been banned until December 31, 2011 for using “aggressive, offensive, insulting, abusive and indecent language towards the referee”.
His outburst came in a Division 1 match between his club Bagatelle and Dayrells Road on May 5.
Similar charges were also brought against Stoute for a first-round incident between the same teams on March 21.
Forde, who coaches Pinelands, escaped with being placed on probation until April 4 for using “offensive, insulting, threatening and abusive language towards the referee” during a Premier League match against Ellerton on April 4.
Bagatelle’s Rohan Weekes and Haynesville’s Marcus Best have been banned until the first two games of the 2011 season for violent conduct in a match against the University of the West Indies and Technico, respectively, during the last season.
Shamar Ifill of Ellerton has also been suspended until the first two matches of next season for violent conduct in the Banks Knockout Cup final against Notre Dame on July 4.
An even stiffer punishment has been meted out to Rico Brathwaite of L&R United for an incident in a Division 3 match versus Church Bottom last April 19.
He has been banned until April 18, next year, for “threatening and causing physical bodily harm to the referee by slapping him”.
Dayrells Road’s Rondelle Ifill was reprimanded and put on a one-year probation for entering the field of play without permission in a Division 1 match against Bagatelle.
He was also rebuked for “attempting to bring the game into disrepute, and using offensive, insulting, and abusive language towards the referee”.
In his report, Richards said the committee members were particularly concerned about the increasing number of threats against referees.
“This is a worrying sign and the committee recommends that there should be a zero tolerance policy on any future established incidents towards match officials,” he said.
