All India Football Federation (AIFF) was fined $18,000 by the Asian Football Confederation for crowd invasion during the Asian Cup qualifying round matches against Afghanistan and Hong Kong in Kolkata in June. But, the majority of amount - $13,500 is a suspended fine which is will be paid for a repeat offence within two years.
The Disciplinary and Ethics Committee of the AFC inflicted an $8,000 fine on the AIFF after one home spectator entered Team India’s technical bench which is deemed as a restricted area during the match against Afghanistan. The Disciplinary and Ethics Committee considered the fan’s action as “an act of improper conduct.”
Here AIFF failed to fulfil its obligations on two counts — “take every safety precaution demanded by the circumstances during the match” and “ensure that law and order was maintained in the stadium and its immediate surroundings."
“AIFF is ordered to pay a fine of $3,000 for violating Art. 65.1 of the AFC Disciplinary and Ethics Code … $2,250 of the amount … is suspended for a probationary period of two years,” the ruling said relating to the first part of the offence.
“Should another violation of a similar nature occur within the probationary period, the suspension is automatically revoked, and the sanction applied; it is added to the sanction pronounced for the new infringement”, it added.
The AFC said the unsuspended portion of the fine - $750 must be settled within 90 days from the date of the communication of the decision. For the second part of the offence, the AIFF is set to pay a fine of $5,000 out of which $3,750 is suspended for a probationary period of two years. The unsuspended portion of the fine - $1250 must be settled within 90 days from the date of the decision.
On June 14 again, two Indian spectators once again intruded on the field of play and the home team’s technical bench during the Hong Kong match, which was deemed “an act of improper conduct” on the part of the AIFF. The Disciplinary and Ethics Committee fined the AIFF $5000 each for the two parts of the offence, out of which $3750 each was suspended for a probationary period of two years just like the Afghanistan match.
