Ahmed Mujahid, head of the tripartite committee overseeing the management of the Egyptian Football Association, revealed the scenes of reducing the penalty for the suspension of Mohamed El-Shennawy, the captain of Al-Ahly.
Al-Shennawi received a ban for 4 games, before it was reduced to one match with an increase in the value of the fine.
Mujahid said on MBC Egypt: “Why was Ferjani Sassi suspended for 6 matches in a similar incident? He is asked about who was present at the time, just ask me about my period.”
He added: “The referee said in his report that the player went to him and told him that he was the captain of the team and asked him about the warning, so the referee said that he had left him heading towards the dressing room, so the player told him: Wait, and pulled him by his hand.”
He continued: “The Competitions Management Committee published instructions at the beginning of the season that unsportsmanlike behavior towards the referee or one of his assistants is punishable by a suspension of 4 matches, and on this basis it issued the decision immediately.”
He continued: “The decision was not urgent on our part, but rather what happened was that the Competition Committee runs its affairs immediately according to what is written.”
He added, “After that, we met and were guided by the opinion of the referees committee represented by Wajih Ahmed and Azab Hajjaj. We asked them directly whether the match referee should be satisfied with mentioning the incident in his report, or issue an administrative penalty against the player.”
He stressed: “Both of them agreed that the referee had to declare a yellow card to the player, and consequently he was expelled because it was to be the second card, and the penalty for expulsion after two warnings in the list is one game suspension, which is what was done.”
He revealed: “There are technical reasons as well. Very clearly, we will not bury our heads in the sand. We will not assume the role of the monster of the screen and argue with mistakes and show great words.”
He explained: “We respect the public interest, and Al-Shennawi is the goalkeeper of Egypt No. 1, and Al-Ahly will participate in the FIFA Clubs World Cup next February, and he is Egypt’s representative in that tournament.”
He pointed out: “If Al-Shenawi is suspended, he will go to play in the tournament without having played its previous matches.”
He concluded: “The best thing always with a professional player is to increase the fine and reduce the suspension for the technical benefit of it by his club, the national team and the public interest.”
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A source in the Football Association had explained to FilGoal.com earlier: “El-Shennawi gets a warning during the match and what happened to the referee would have required him to obtain a second yellow card.”
He continued, “Therefore, Al-Shenawi should have been expelled, and the penalty for expulsion is to stop one match only.”
He added, “The referee made a mistake and he should have expelled Al-Shennawi after the match when he started.”
Regarding the toughening of the fine, he said: “This decision was due to the unsportsmanlike behavior of the Al-Ahly guard towards the referee.”
The Football Association’s statement indicated that El-Shenawi should “pay the fine before participating in the matches, after reviewing the referees committee, which decided that the player should receive the penalty assigned to the player who has a card.”
The match, which ended in a goalless draw against Al-Ahly Bank, witnessed objections by Al-Ahly players that a goal scored by Ayman Ashraf was not counted.
Al-Shennawi missed Al-Ahly’s dramatic victory over the Arab Contractors by three goals to two, but he will be available to face the next Pyramids.
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