FAM to haul up Rajagobal next week

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) is expected to haul up National coach Datuk K. Rajagobal next week for allegedly violating Article 88 of the FAM constitution.

According to Article 88, only the President and the Secretary-general can issue press statements on issue and policies related to FAM.

FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had concrete evidence to charge the 56-year-old coach for criticising the policy of the governing body for football in the country.

"We have the evidence to charge (Rajagobal) because he has breached Article 88 and we are also looking at reports in the media, allegedly issued by him," he told reporters after chairing a four-hour Disciplinary committee meeting at Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya, today.

Taufik said just like how the others who breached Article 88 were charged in the past, the same procedure would be applied in the case of Rajagobal, to be fair to everyone.

Rajagobal was reported to have blamed the lack of capable strikers due to the presence of foreign imports in the M-League, for the National team's 1-4 loss to Saudi Arabia at the Shah Alam Stadium, on March 17.

The FAM are also expected to haul up a number players from Selangor for their involvement in a fracas with the Armed Forces team during their first round FA Cup match at the Shah Alam Stadium on Jan 25.

During the incident, Selangor striker Mohd Afiq Azmi was said to have provoked players seated at the Armed Forces reserve bench which resulted in a fracas between both teams.

The match was eventually won by Selangor with a 3-2 score after a penalty shootout when regulation time and extra time ended in a 2-2 draw.

Subsequently, the FAM Disciplinary Committee suspended four Armed Forces players - G. Jeevananthan, Mohd Shukor Adan, R. Surendran, Mohd Fitri Omar - for between two and four matches and fined them between RM1,000 and RM1,500.