October 08, 2007	Monday	Ramazan 25, 1428

KARACHI, Oct 7: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has snubbed elements involved in litigation against the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), saying legal wrangling never produced positive results in the sport.

The general-secretary of the AFC, Dato Paul Mony Samuel, said he had never come across a case ending positively involving the court of law as football was like a family.

The AFC official, who was on a visit to Lahore recently, said those involved in football should not move court, although there might be frustrations and penalties.

“I have never seen in my football career that any one trying to solve matter in the court of law gets fruitful results. Football is like a family and in a family there are ifs and buts, frustrations and punishment, so there is no need of knocking the outsider’s door for solution,” Samuel said in a statement released by the PFF.

Although Samuel didn’t openly mention the name of any particular individual, it was obvious that he was referring to recent legal actions against federation initiated by the controversial former PFF secretary Arshad Lodhi.

The ex-PFF official first moved court against the federation, forcing it to postpone the July 16 polls and then sought a stay order against his 10-year ban slapped by the PFF for maligning the federation’s chief Faisal Saleh Hayat and violating the code of conduct.

Arshad was debarred for issuing press statements against the PFF and its chief Faisal, accusing him of nepotism and making changes to the PFF constitution to serve his vested interest.

“Arshad is a one man demolition squad whereby he has deliberately tried to undermine the record and phenomenal achievements of the PFF and its various bodies/units over the past four years.

“He and his colleagues have failed to uphold the values of discipline and spirit of the game and tired to hold the entire body of the PFF hostage to their personal whims and interests.

“This state of mind of Arshad Lodhi and his colleagues render them liable to the strictest of disciplinary actions,” the PFF had said in a July 10 statement.

The story has not ended as Arshad, who has been “elected” executive committee member of the PFF, has once again been challenging federation to prove his ban “illegal and unconstitutional.”

Samuel, who was the AFC deputy general-secretary before he took over as general-secretary on Jan 1, pointed out those who were hell-bent on moving court, should also consider Article 68 of the PFF constitution.

“The PFF shall create an Arbitration Tribunal which deals with all internal disputes between the PFF, its members, players, officials and match player’s agents that do not fall under the jurisdiction of its judicial bodies. The executive committee shall draw up special regulations regarding the composition, jurisdiction and procedural rules of this Arbitration Tribunal,” the article says.

“Arbitration is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts. The use of arbitration to resolve disputes, arising out of sporting events and participation in regulated sporting activities is well established,” the PFF quoted Samuel as saying.

The official said relationships built on trust always proved durable.

“My ambition in life is to build meaningful and proactive relationships and create a sense of bonhomie among the people around me. I hate unpleasantness. I believe relationships based on trust go a much longer way than anything else.”