Santos' Brazil gets ten game ban upheld by IFA

Editorial Department • Published 18 Feb 2010 11:30 0 Comments

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Enniskillen Santos player Rory Brazil (second from right) whose appeal against a 10 game ban for playing while suspended was turned down by the IFA.

Enniskillen Santos player Rory Brazil has had his ten game suspension upheld by the IFA following an Independent Appeals Committee meeting on Tuesday night.

Brazil incurred the suspension after featuring in Santos' 1-0 win over Tummery Athletic at the start of the season when he should have been serving a one match suspension picked up at the end of the previous season when he was then an Enniskillen Swifts player.

Both the player and club claimed to have been unaware of the suspension with Santos manager Joe Keenan revealing at the time that he only became aware of the situation when he received an anonymous text message advising him not to play Brazil against neighbours Enniskillen Town in the third game of the season as he should be suspended.

Santos assistant manager Damian Love made an impassioned plea to the committee on behalf of the club that neither they, nor the player, knew that the player had a one game suspension to serve, and he brought a signed letter from the secretary of the now folded Enniskillen Swifts, Roy Tarbotton stating that he had not informed the player, who signed for Santos in the summer, that he had received a suspension while playing for Swifts.

The committee did show sympathy towards the club and the player's plight but they were bound by rules which state that it is the club's responsibility to ensure the eligibility of their players for any match.

"We got a fair hearing from the committee and they let me put our case across, but the bottom line was that it is in the rulebook that the responsibility lies with the club and we will just have to take it although we would hope the Fermanagh and Western will show us a bit of leniancy over the points," said Love.

He added: "It is the player who I feel sorry for out of all this. If he had known that he had a suspension to serve there is no way that he would have played and risked this ban for the sake of one game and that also applies to Joe (Keenan). He would never had played him if he knew he was suspended. The annoying thing for me is that somebody somewhere knew that Rory Brazil was suspended and they let him go on ahead and play. My hope now is that every club learns from this. I also think that the Fermanagh and Western should send out a list of suspended players from the last Disciplinary meeting of the season to all clubs so that if somebody signs for them they will be know that player will have a suspension to serve."

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 18 Feb 10

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