Some say it was too harsh—some say it was too lenient—some even say it’s about time we take a stand against abusive and obscene behaviour by our players.
However, in spite all the varying views—Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee Wayne Caesar told the Pro League Website that he and his committee feel justified in the ruling involving the matter between Starworld Strikers goal keeper Marvin Phillips and local referee Ramesh Ramdhan.
Mr. Caesar and his committee after a couple weeks of thorough investigation banned Marvin Phillips for 20 months and fined him $2000. dollars.
This immediately caused an adverse reaction from Starworld Strikers—as their Coach Michael Grayson was totally horrified by the ruling on the matter and told the Pro League Website that Starworld will be seeking immediate redress on the matter.
“We will be appealing the matter come what may—we find the decision very harsh—and we will be seeking redress,” Grayson said.
Nevertheless, Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee Mr. Wayne Caesar said he feels totally justified in the decision taken by his committee.
“We had set guidelines to follow—and we tried to be as fair as possible.”
He added, “We knew there would be adverse reactions to the decision but we were satisfied that it was the correct decision.”
According to Caesar there was the view from some quarters that we were too lenient—as spitting on some body is the highest form of disrespect.
Mr. Caesar made it quite clear—his committee had no jurisdiction over Mr. Ramesh Ramdhan, the referee in question—but told the Pro League Website—they sent a strong letter to the Trinidad and Tobago’s Referees Association stating that the matter with Mr. Ramdhan should also be thoroughly investigated.
Mr. Caesar ended by saying, “there is a lot of obscene and abusive language taking place in the league—and we sent a letter to all the clubs complaining about the conduct of their players on the field and we have not been seeing any improvement—so with this scenario between Marvin Phillips and Ramesh Ramdhan, we felt totally justified in our decision—in order to set a precedent and an example in the league.”