Tanjong Pagar United team manager and former Lions stalwart Noh Alam Shah has been slapped with a five-match stadium ban for his behaviour on 20 October 2022 in the final Jaguars match of the season against Tampines Rovers at Our Tampines Hub.
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The punishment was meted out on the former national striker after a disciplinary committee (DC) hearing, TMSG has discovered.
Details of the DC hearing and what transpired was not made public, which has caused a certain level of unhappiness among a few club officials.
The basis of the ban and whether only Noh was punished for the events which unfolded on 20 October has not been made public.
It is understood that the information about the ban was only made known to the clubs through a circular before the start of the 2023 Singapore Premier League season.
Suspicions were raised when Noh was not seen on the Jaguars’ bench for the third match in a row in their 2-0 win over Geylang International on 10 March at the Jurong East Stadium.
On match day one in their clash against Lion City Sailors on 24 February, there was also a photo of the bench which was taken and posted on the Jaguars Facebook page, devoid of Noh.
The ill-tempered match on 20 October was the final clash of the season for Tanjong Pagar and Tampines Rovers, and the police was summoned following clashes between Tanjong Pagar United officials and certain members of the Tampines Rovers bench and fans towards the end of the match.
The day after the incident, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) had said after that it was reviewing materials “before deciding on the next course of action, including referral to the FAS disciplinary committee, if necessary.”
It also posted a statement of the Singapore Premier League website.
The question is if the FAS had a duty to inform fans and the media of the actions taken following the DC hearing, especially since there was significant public interest, and also since the police had been summoned to quell the post-match storm.
When the DC met and decided on the punishment after the head-butting incident involving Lion City Sailors coach Kim Do-hoon and Tampines Rovers assistant coach Mustafic Fahrudin which happened on 24 July 2022, the punishments meted out by the DC were posted on the SPL website and on social media.
The inconsistency in the way in which the FAS handled this incident and DC hearing verdict is just baffling and can possibly be construed as being biased.
MAIN PHOTO: YOUTUBE
