BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
Malaysia have come under intense scrutiny and punishments following the latest Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Disciplinary and Ethics Committee meeting, the results of which was announced on Tuesday.
The fines and suspensions were handed to the Malaysian FA (FAM), Malaysia head coach Nelo Vingada, Malaysia midfielder Safiq Rahim, totalling USD62,000 (around RM262,500).
On top of this, the FAM was also fined for the conduct of the fans involving matches that Malaysian teams participated in, as well as one that did not even involve a Malaysian team.
Safiq Rahim:
The Malaysia captain was fined USD1,000 (around RM4,400) for a reckless tackle he made in the AFC Cup qualification match between Hong Kong and Malaysia on October 10. The tackle earned the JDT man a straight red card in the match, but he has also received an additional one-match suspension, to be served in Malaysia's next AFC Cup qualification match, against DPR Korea on November 10. He has also received a warning not to repeat his conduct in the future.
Nelo Vingada:
The Malayan Tigers boss received a USD5,000 (RM22,000) fine, for making insulting comments about the referee team, questioning their performance and their appointment process during the post-match press conference. He reportedly committed the infringements after the AFC Cup qualification match between Malaysia and Hong Kong on October 5. He also received a warning.
FAM:
The team's conduct towards the referee near the end of the Malaysia-Hong Kong match also incurred a fine from the AFC. For that, FAM was fined USD6,000 (RM26,400) and warned.
The incident in the Malaysia-Hong Kong match also led to the home fans remonstrating by throwing missiles at the match officials after the match. This has resulted in a USD7,500 (RM33,000) fine and a warning.
FAM was also fined for incidents happening in and during the football competition at the 2017 SEA Games in August, which was hosted by Malaysia.
FAM was fined USD5,000 (RM26,400) and received a warning for shoddy match organisation of the encounter between Indonesia and Cambodia on August 24, when fans threw water bottles onto the field of play and towards the tunnel after the match.
The association was also fined USD7,500 (RM33,000) and warned for a "sound bomb" that was let off by the fans in or around the 87th minute of the August 26 match between Malaysia and Indonesia.
Interestingly, it was Malaysia fans' misconducts in the SEA Games resulted in the largest individual fines for FAM.
FAM was fined USD15,000 (RM66,000) and warned, for the home fans' chanting of derogatory songs during the August 14 Malaysia-Brunei SEA Games clash.
A similar incident during the August 16 SEA Games match between Singapore and Malaysia has also resulted in a USD15,000 match and stern warning for the association.
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