KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Football League (MFL) have denied a statement by Perak FC, which stated that they were not given the space to discuss the decision to call off the team’s Super League match against Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) on Saturday.
MFL chief executive officer Giorgio Pompili Rossi said the decision to postpone the match at the Perak Stadium in Ipoh was based on the 2024-2025 Malaysia League Manual.
“Based on the match commissioner’s preliminary report, the postponement scheduled at 8.15pm that night was done according to Rule 2.8.1 of the matches to be called off following heavy rain that made the pitch unplayable.
“The match commissioner had complied with the stipulated process, where the match cannot be started and both clubs must wait for the match to be played again within a maximum of 60 minutes with the agreement of both clubs,” he said.
Elaborating, he said the pitch still could not be used after the waiting period and the match commissioner then informed both clubs regarding the decision to postpone the game.
He said the home team knew about the current condition of the pitch because they had been informed by the match commissioner to wait as stipulated in the competition regulations.
“Although the pitch inspection was done at 6pm, it doesn’t mean it was in a good condition to be used because the decision to either go ahead or postpone the game was made by assessing the pitch condition, which was badly affected due to the downpour,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rossi said the governing body of the Malaysia League is satisfied with the efforts of Perak FC to upgrade the Perak Stadium through a grant provided by the Youth and Sports Ministry.
Earlier yesterday, Perak FC, through its chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Azim Mohd Zabidi, had alleged that they were not given an opportunity to discuss the MFL’s decision to postpone the match against JDT.
Abdul Azim said the decision was made without any detailed discussion and that no prior notice was issued by MFL to inform about the matter. – October 7, 2024