All About Sport

KELANTAN coach B.Sathianathan has been suspended for six months by the FA of Malaysia (FAM) for speaking against the association's policies.
In a July 27 Timesport article headlined "'Away game' upsets Sathianathan", the coach was quoted as saying that it was unfair to allow Terengganu to play their away game" against Perlis in Kuala Terengganu.Action, however, was not taken on T-Team coach Che Ku Marzuki Che Ku Mohd Nor, who also made negative remarks on the fixture in the same article.

Perlis were supposed to host Terengganu at the Kangar Stadium but the venue was unavailable for the match.

FAM then decided to move the match to the Sultan Nasiruddin Shah Stadium, the home ground of the Terengganu team.

The FAM disciplinary committee, headed by Datuk Taufik Razak, suspended Sathianathan on Friday and a letter was faxed to the Kelantan FA (KAFA) headquarters in Kota Baru, on the same day.


Sathianathan, however, was only informed by Kafa yesterday.

The former national coach will now be banned from the team bench until his suspension ends in April.

Sathianathan said he was perplexed and bemused by the suspension.


"FAM informed me, in writing, to give a detailed explanation, a few days after my comments appeared in the papers. I did what they wanted," said Sathianathan yesterday.

"I did not hear from them again until now. I was, however, not asked to defend myself at the disciplinary committee meeting."

Sathiananthan said the suspension will definitely affect his players.

"Now, I am forced to watch my team play from the stands but it will not stop me from giving instruction to my players."

It is learnt that KAFA president Tan Sri Annuar Musa, who is also an FAM deputy president, will appeal the suspension. FAM officials could not be reached for comments yesterday.