Clock starts ticking for Paul

The All India Football Association AIFF has issued Subrata Paul a show-cause notice, returnable on December 20, to explain his conduct on ...

The All India Football Association AIFF has issued Subrata Paul a show-cause notice, returnable on December 20, to explain his conduct on Sunday. Paul, the Mohun Bagan goalkeeper, had collided with Dempo8217;s Cristiano, following which the latter collapsed and died.

8216;8216;After that8217;8217;, AIFF disciplinary committee chairman Hardev Jadeja told this reporter, 8216;8216;we will announce our decision. But first Paul8217;s explanation; we will give him a fair chance.8217;8217;

Copies of the notice have already been sent to the AIFF president, Mohun Bagan, Paul8217;s state association IFA and the disciplinary committee. If Paul doesn8217;t reply in time, Jadeja said, the club and state association would be held responsible. On receiving Paul8217;s reply the committee will begin the task of reviewing the various reports: police, medical, FIR, match referee8217;s and match commissioner8217;s. 8216;8216;The last two would be important as the persons involved are part of AIFF8217;8217;, Jadeja said.

The committee8217;s brief is to determine if Paul committed an intentional or unintentional foul. 8216;8216;We would try to determine whether Paul made body contact with Junior8217;8217;, he said. However, he did not say what the punishment could be in either case.

The whole process is set to finish by December 28, when a new set of AIFF office bearers is due to be elected. 8216;8216;We would like to finish it off before the new committee takes over8217;8217;, Jadeja said.

	Durand: AIFF 8216;never got any report8217;

			8226; One question raised repeatedly since Sunday: Why was Subrata Paul let off during the Durand Cup after charging the referee and an East Bengal player? AIFF disciplinary committee chairman Hardev Jadeja said the Durand was a 8216;private8217; tournament, not organised by the AIFF. And in the absence of a report from either the match referee, match commissioner or tournament committee, there was nothing the AIFF could do. 8216;8216;Private tournaments are not within our jurisdiction. We cannot interfere unless we get something official.8217;8217; 8212; M.A.

Having seen endless replays of the television footage of the incident, Jadeja said prima facie the foul appeared 8216;8216;uncalled for8217;8217; and 8216;8216;violent8217;8217;, and he thought that Paul charged the man Junior. 8216;8216;However, that8217;s everyone8217;s view after watching the clips, I guess8217;8217;, he added.

What has also caught his attention is the fact that the referee took no action on the offence; it should have been at least a yellow card, he said. 8216;8216;Look, no one wants another incident of this sort to occur again so examining the lacunae on our side that includes the KSFA and AIFF is also important.8217;8217;

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In New Delhi, a press release from AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi noted that the 8216;8216;referee8217;s report should have been more appropriate in details8217;8217;. He said he8217;d been informed that the referee8217;s report mentioned the incident in a routine manner.