Lisle Austin loses suspension appeal

By Andrew Warshaw

November 8 -Caribbean football has suffered another setback with the news that Lisle Austin of Barbados has lost his appeal against a one-year suspension.

FIFA’s appeals panel upheld Austin’s ban for breaking the rules by trying to get a court injunction against the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) as part of the cash-for-votes scandal.

FIFA’s statutes say officials should not go to civil courts to settle disputes though Austin, who is banned until July, can still go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Following the bribery allegations against Mohamed Bin Hammam and Jack Warner, Austin became acting President of CONCACAF when Warner, a long-standing colleague, resigned.

He then tried to fire its general secretary Chuck Blazer, the whistle-blower whose evidence sparked the scandal.

When CONCACAF instead suspended Austin, he went to the civil court in the Bahamas to try and get the ruling overturned.

In another case, the former FIFA Executive Committee member Ahongalu Fusimalohi gave evidence to the CAS in Lausanne challenging his two-year ban, which runs until October 2012.

The Tongan official was implicated in a British newspaper sting during bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. His ban cost him his job as the Tonga Football Association general secretary, and a seat on the Oceania confederation’s Executive Committee.

Fusimalohi was a FIFA Executive Committee member from 2002-06 and took part in the election of South Africa as the 2010 World Cup host.

He is the last of three officials to appear at CAS among six banned by FIFA over the last year.

The others are Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Amadou Diakite of Mali.

The CAS are scheduled to give their verdicts within the next few weeks.

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