Msida St Joseph official Charles Chircop has been hit by a five-year ban following his attack on assistant referee Nicky Debattista last Saturday at the National Stadium.
Magistrate Gawdenz P. Borg, the Malta FA Disciplinary Commissioner, yesterday decreed that Chircop be suspended from football activities until January 18, 2010.
Chircop stole the attention for the wrong reasons on Saturday when, after a stormy ending to Msida St Joseph's delicate match with Pietà Hotspurs, he ran on to the pitch and assailed Debattista.
The assistant referee had angered Msida after his signalling of a penalty-box infringement by Msida's Italian defender Manuel Boni on David Camenzuli, of Pietà, led to a penalty being awarded to the Hotspurs from which Cleaven Frendo netted his team's late equaliser.
Only hours after Chircop's attack on the assistant referee, Msida SJ issued a statement to express their condemnation of their official's misbehaviour. The following day, Msida announced that Chircop, whose action saw him being arraigned in court last Monday, acceded to a request and quit his post on the Premier League club's committee.
The hefty sanction meted out by the MFA Disciplinary Commissioner is unlikely to be the last imposed on Msida as the incident is expected to come under the spotlight again when the MFA Board for Control and Discipline convenes late next week.
Msida's hopes of battling their way into the Championship Pool were severely jolted yesterday by the suspensions handed out to three of their players.
Boni's automatic one-match ban for his red card against Pietà was extended to two after he reportedly failed to observe the instructions of one of the match officials.
Goalkeeper Omar Borg also received a two-match ban for his protests and the verbal threats he made to the assistant referee. A three-match ban was the punishment given to another Msida player, Adrian Farrugia.
Two Hibernians players were also on the suspensions list yesterday.
Essien Mbong and Aaron Xuereb picked up their fourth yellow card in the 2-0 defeat of Floriana and have been suspended for one match. Their ban is a blow for Hibs as their next opponents are champions Sliema Wanderers on January 29.
Birkirkara to answer charge
Birkirkara will appear in front of the Malta FA Board for Control and Discipline next week as they have been summoned to face a charge after some of their supporters were reported for taunting Sliema Wanderers FC president Robert Arrigo at the stadium.
The incident, noted by the match inspector, happened during the Super Five Cup final played last month.
Meanwhile, the club announced yesterday that the much-travelled forward Alan Tabone, who started the season with the Stripes, has now joined Division Two front-runners Tarxien Rainbows on loan until the end of the season.