Football Côte d’Or president Robert Payet unhappy with sanctions |07 October 2017
Côte d’Or president Robert Payet is unhappy with the sanctions imposed on him and other members of his team by the Seychelles Football Federation’s disciplinary committee and has expressed his discontent at how the situation is being handled, suggesting his team are being unfairly targeted.
Five member of Côte d’Or’s playing and non-playing staff have been sanctioned by the SFF and Sports NATION contacted the team’s president to see what he has to say on the issue.
“The SFF sent us a letter on September 27, 2017 to inform us of the sanctions imposed on us and I have already told them that I want to appeal against the sanction,” Mr Payet said.
He added: “I don’t understand how we can be sanctioned, when we have not been given the chance to produce a statement to explain our side of the incident and not even a hearing has been done, so that we can defend ourselves.”
In yesterday’s issue of the Seychelles NATION, we published the reaction of the SFF regarding the incident that took place on Praslin, in the match between Côte d’Or and La Passe. The match was abandoned due to threats towards the match officials.
It should be reminded that players Oliver Bonté and Randolph Lesperance have been banned for four and two matches respectively, while the club’s president Robert Payet, manager André Bédier and assistant manager Giovanni Dubignon have all been suspended from the changing rooms and bench during their side’s matches until the investigative committee completes its investigation into the incident. Benoit Marie, who was sent off in the game, will serve an automatic two-game suspension as the rules state.
“The federation has also asked me to remove myself from the SFF’s executive committee and as president of Côte d’Or,” Mr Payet continued.
He added: “I have agreed to leave the executive committee as I do not want to interfere in the investigation, but I have no intention of stepping down as Côte d’Or president as they requested I do.”
Mr Payet has also revealed to Sports NATION that the independent investigative committee met the SFF on Thursday morning and according to him, it informed the SFF to remove all sanctions against Côte d’Or until the investigation is over.
“Despite this recommendation, that same afternoon, SFF chief executive Georges Bibi, told the press about the sanctions and also added a new one, which is that we will play our home games behind closed doors. This is unacceptable,” he added.
There were reports that the linesman of the game had issues with Côte d’Or and Mr Payet informed us that in the last two years, they have complained about his conduct towards his team on numerous occasions, only to be ignored by the SFF.
“When I saw the linesman still punishing us for no reason, I decided to ask my players to leave the field, as there was no point in writing a complaint again, since nothing will be done,” said Mr Payet.
Mr Payet expressed that he is very disappointed with what he feels is clearly a form of victimisation against his team by the SFF and it remains to be seen how this saga ends.
The incident took place on September 16 at Stad Amitié on Praslin, during the match between Côte d’Or and La Passe, where after defender Benoit Marie was sent off, players and fans threatened and behaved violently towards the officials who had to be escorted to the airport by police officers.
S. N.