Maruful Haque is unarguably one of the most talented and promising coaches in Bangladesh football but his recent suspension of one-year by Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) is something which has raised question about the clarity of the length of the ban.
This one-year suspension from all kinds of activities of BFF will certainly hinder the former Sheikh Russel coach’s growth who is currently in United Kingdom to complete his Uefa pro-license coaching course. However, although the offense for which he received such a lengthy ban does not warrant a defense in his favor, the one-year ban for a coach sounds too harsh and unprecedented at the same time in world football.
Maruful came under BFF’s disciplinary committee’s scrutiny when he was quoted as demanding the resignation of the professional league committee on February 28 during his tenure as the head coach of Russel, the club he guided to its historic treble last season, though he apologised for his actions later.
According to BFF’s disciplinary code, “Anyone who insults someone in any way, especially by using offensive gesture or language, will be sanctioned with a match suspension. If the perpetrator is an official, he will be suspended for at least four matches. A fine as well as a ban on performing any football related activity, as referred to in Article 22, may also be pronounced.”
Therefore, Maruful’s 12-month ban is indeed extreme and disproportionate to the offense he committed.
Sheikh Jamal are also one of the victims of this decision as they brought in Maruf after the second phase of premier league this season and planned to keep him as head coach for next season.
“I highly rate three coaches in Bangladesh. They are Maruf, Manik (Shafiqul Islam Manik) and Titu (Saiful Bari Titu), and Maruf is the best among them. This is definitely a harsh and bad decision,” said Sheikh Jamal president Manjur Kader yesterday.
However, the president of Bangladesh Football Coaches’ Association Hasanuzzaman Khan Bablu defended BFF’s decision saying, “Maruf can’t make such comments against BFF. What he did was not right and I think he has got what he deserved.”
The convener of League Football Coaches’ Forum and Muktijoddha SKC coach Shafiqul Islam Manik said, “We will let our official comment know tomorrow (Tuesday) after discussing with other coaches. But they could have punished him when the incident took place, not after five months.”
BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag explained the reason behind the delay. “We kept the decision pending for the league to end so that his club doesn’t suffer for it.”
However, a source from BFF’s disciplinary committee requesting anonymity said few committee members recommended six-month ban, but it was BFF who took the final decision. Shohag, however, denied the allegation.
