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Saturday November 1, 2008

Chinese player banned 10 years for ref attack

BEIJING: A Chinese player has been banned for 10 years and another for five years after attacking a referee who showed one of their team-mates a second yellow card.

The incident occurred during a match between Huantai Classic FC and Zibo Industrial Institution (ZII) on Oct 18, the Asian Football Confederation said.

According to reports, the referee was accosted by the two ZII players after showing a second yellow card to team-mate Zhou Peilin. During the argument, Jiang Wei, who was banned for five years, was alleged to have pushed and kicked the referee while Zhang Don grabbed his red and yellow cards as well as the fourth official’s match report.

The referee abandoned the match when the ZII team left the field before the 90 minutes were up.

“We will never tolerate such disgraceful behaviour in our own city league,” said Zibo FA general secretary Wang Xuejun.

“Anyone who misbehaves and doesn’t respect sportsmanship and fair play in football will be punished. We are proud of our Zibo City league, therefore everyone must take good care of it.”

The incident was the latest to mar football in China, with the national league previously mired in corruption and gambling scandals as well as dismal fan attendance numbers. The Zibo City League is part of the AFC’s Vision China project. — AFP

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