ROYALS Football Academy founder Joel Konifilia has again lashed out at the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) for not taking quick action against a Solomon Warriors player who reportedly punched a Henderson Eels player during the previous Telekom S-league (TSL) season.
Konofilia stated that SIFF must act quickly since it is the same issue that had him suspended by SIFF after he punched a match official during the Solomon Cup tournament in 2017.
“I punched a referee and on the same day, I got a letter with SIFF letterhead prohibiting me from participating in any SIFF sanctioned tourney.
“Then I was later given a three-year ban for the same incident.
“Royals, as an academy got penalised together with the innocent players and HFA, didn’t allow ROYALS players to play in their league.
“Tigi Molea with his mob punched Taebo and he didn’t get a letter on the same day.
“He was never banned but continue to play in the TSL and even the O’League.
“According to SIFF statutes and TSL regulations, Molea should not be allowed to play in any SIFF sanctioned tourney after the incident.
“This also means that Warriors should have lost all points in every game that he played in for Warriors in the TSL.
“It is the same issue as mine when I punched the referee, so no disciplinary action against that player is unfair and not good,” he added.
Konofilia said SIFF and the TSL board must step up to address such issues that definitely will have an impact on the TSL competition.
The SIFF Technical Director Moses Toata in response made an assurance that SIFF will act on this issue.
He further clarified who is responsible to act on such an issue.
“The incident that happened after the Henderson Eels and Warriors Game was reported through a complaint letter to SIFF, but because it was a disciplinary matter, therefore, it must be dealt with by the SIFF Disciplinary Committee (DC).
“Even the TSL Board cannot rule on such incident because it happened after the Game in a public area and anything of such nature must be referred to the DC.
“At the moment the only legitimate person to comment on the matter is Mr. Silverio Lepe or one of the DC members.
“I do not have a clue as to what the outcome of the DC will be because it is not in my jurisdiction if you like.
“The other point is, we have a TSL Board and Disciplinary Committee who deal with such matters and not the SIFF Secretariat which I am part of.
“In fact, after the incident, Tigi did not play in their remaining games but played in the OFC Champions League in Noumea,” Toata was responding to football fans querying about the incident.
By CARLOS ARUAFU
