The Bhutan Football Federation (BFF) is yet to act on the Drukpol FC’s petition submitted a fortnight ago.

The club was suspended following disciplinary issue on June 30.

A BFF official said that this was the first appeal.

“We are going to look into the issue seriously,” the official said.

The federation is seeking legal advise on how to go ahead with the proceeding of the appeal.  The appeal committee will look into the matter immediately after the legal officer looks into the appeal letter.

BFF disciplinary committee member, Kinley Dorji, said that once the match is declared a walkover, decision to suspend the club might be hard to change.

“The fines and ban imposed on individual players and the need to pay back the grants provided by the federation to the team could be changed,” he said.

He said that whether the decisions merit review and change would depend on the appeal committee.

The BFF’s decision based on the report and complaint submitted by the match commissioner and referee of the match.

However, the team had expected the committee to hear their side of the story.

The sports focal person of Drukpol FC, Yeshi Lhendup, said, “We have followed the procedures and it’s their [federation’s] role which is incomplete,” he said.

Drukpol FC was penalised when the team refused to restart the game after the 54th minute of the match against Thimphu City FC in the Pepsi Thimphu League 2017. The team protested against the decisions made by the referee.

Four Drukpol FC players were fined and banned from playing some matches by the federation’s disciplinary committee.

Nima