Shillong, Nov 6: Taking serious note of the action by the Mizoram Football Association to ban 25 players from football-related activities in that state, the Meghalaya Football Association on Wednesday has decided that it will stand by its sister association and debar the same players from football in Meghalaya.
The Mizoram FA had conducted an investigation with support and cooperation from law enforcement agencies, which led to the discovery of cases of corruption in the form of match manipulation. This led to the association to ban 25 players, three officials and three clubs from football-related activities for varying periods ranging from one year to life, news of which was released yesterday. The Meghalaya FA, which is mindful of how harmful match fixing is to the sport, decided at a meeting held today to respect the Mizoram FA’s decision and ensure that none of the sanctioned players can play in any league of a district association affiliated to the Meghalaya FA. It has been reported in the media that several of the banned players are associated, or have been associated in the past, with local Meghalaya clubs. The Meghalaya FA hopes to send a strong message to players not to be tempted to indulge in such illegal activities as they will be putting their careers and reputations at risk and bring the beautiful game into disrepute. The Meghalaya FA takes the issue of match fixing extremely seriously. The association and the affiliated district associations are doing their utmost to improve the standard of football in Meghalaya but match fixing can put that hard work in jeopardy and must be stamped out.
