FIFA suspends BAFA indefinitely

Written by WalEED PD Mahdini
Brunei FM


THE world football governing body FIFA, in a press release on its web site, announced that Brunei Darussalam’s Football Association (BAFA) has been suspended indefinitely due to “government intervention”, effectively banning club side Brunei DPMM FC from playing in Singapore’s S-League.

The Brunei authorities dissolved BAFA last December and created a new governing body for the sport, FIFA said in minutes taken from an executive meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

“The suspension applies with immediate effect and means that Brunei club DPMM FC will no longer be permitted to play in the Singapore S-League. The suspension will run until BAFA is reinstalled by the government,” the soccer world governing body said.

Brunei DPMM FC, which joined the 12-team S-League this year, and is fourth in the standings, have five matches left to play in the current season.

The decision was reached when the FIFA Executive Committee, chaired by FIFA President Joseph Seb Blatter, convening for its third meeting of the year in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on September 29 to discuss a wide range of topics and a number of decisions. One of these decisions was for the suspension of ‘the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (BAFA) due to governmental interference in its affairs’, which FIFA stated was ’started with a decision by the Brunei authorities to dissolve BAFA and to replace it with a new federation in December 2008. The suspension applies with immediate effect and means that Brunei DPMM FC will no longer be permitted to play in the Singapore S-League. The suspension will run until BAFA is reinstalled by the Brunei government’.

But how has it come to this?
On November 15 last year, the Registrar of Societies (RoS) deregistered BAFA, which was not accepted by FIFA who instead saw deregistration as an interference in the running of a member football association.

It’s a well-known and frequently published fact that BAFA did not hold their Annual General Meeting since 2001 and neither did BAFA submit full reports of its activity and finances for the said period but these matters were notified to RoS periodically.

Based on these facts, BAFA was deregistered despite apologies from BAFA to RoS and the Ministry of Home Affairs, as well as two appeals from the now-defunct football association for it be re-registered. In the meantime, BAFA duly submitted a report including an audited financial report, which was not considered by the authorities.

FIFA’s view of the interference, amongst other things, was the setting up of the new body – The Football Federation of Brunei Darussalam (FFBD) – initiated by the Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Culture, Youth andSport, within the grace timeframe that BAFA was given to appeal.

BAFA was deregistered on November 15, 2008 and given a month’s time to appeal. The FFBD was set up on November 26 and formally registered on December 3 and subsequently approved 15 days later on December 18. To many, the approval and registration of FFBD set a new record of just 18 days, when in fact, many applications normally takes many months, if not usually, years.
Between January and July this year, officials from FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation flew to Brunei to reason with the authorities, especially the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, to reinstate BAFA with a view to later hold Congress and subsequently an election of a new committee.

On August 24, FIFA appointed an Interim Committee with YAM Pengiran Maharaja Setia Laila Diraja Sahibul Irshad Pengiran Anak Hj Abdul Rahim as its
Chairman and Hj Momin Hj Jaafar as the General Secretary; with a directive to get BAFA re-registered by September 24. The governing world body added that if by this date BAFA was not re-registered, BAFA would be duly suspended.
Five days later, FIFA took the decision to suspend BAFA on September 29 at their Executive Committee Meeting in Brazil.

So what does this now mean for football in Brunei?
It has been understood that following this suspension, BAFA will no longer be able to organise football activities or participate in international football activities, that the DPMM FC team will no longer be allowed to participate in the Singapore League, that BAFA (and indeed the nation) lose all its rights of international football sporting membership, or in a nutshell only play `kampung football’ once again – as was experienced by South Africa when it was isolated during its apartheid-era.

Furthermore, suspension from FIFA also means that Brunei will not be able to benefit from FIFA development programmes nor be eligible to receive any of FIFA’s financial aids.

In April 15, this year, underscoring the importance of the governing body’s fundamental principle, FIFA’s President Seb Blatter highlighted: “Football is a universal sport based on the fundamental principles of discipline and respect for opponents and the Laws of the Game as well as on the spirit of competitiveness and rivalry, underpinned by the values of fair play and ethics. These principles and values must be applied not only on the field of play, but also in the administration and governance of football, particularly in the area of sports politics. And, of course, this includes elections to the governing bodies of football.”

This sentiment was echoed by FIFA’s Vice President Geoff Thompson who said: “We need to uphold our statutes for the protection of the game in countries that face difficulties, whether through internal strife or external governmental interference,” he said. “We must be strong and we must be fair,” he continued, “and with the support of my colleagues here, we will make a difference”.

BAFA was established on March 15, 1956 in Seria. It was known as Brunei State Amateur Football Association (BSAFA) and was later known as Brunei Amateur Football Association (BAFA). When Brunei gained its independence in 1984, the name was changed to the Brunei Darussalam Football Association.

The former national football teams used to be managed by BAFA, in which they participated in various tournaments such as the Borneo Cup in 1960s and 1970s, achieving the qualifying rounds in the Asia Cup and the World Cup, the Southeast Asia Games, which first started in 1997 in Kuala Lumpur and the Arafura Games for under-23s. Before entering the Singapore League, the national football team was actively involved in the Malaysia Cup as an invited team since 1979, in which it qualified for the quarterfinals in 1983, twice becoming semi-finalists and finally champions in 1999.

BAFA also organised domestic tournaments such as the Brunei League Cup, the Standard Chartered Cup and the district level Helix Cup for under-18s.