Sapling Cup semi-final to be rearranged after HKFA allows Happy Valley back into the competition
- The club were originally ruled to have forfeited their clash against Lee Man for failing to pay players insurance fees on time
- Lee Man have declined to make a statement, having previously said they would not agree to play in a rearranged match
The Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) said it would rearrange the Sapling Cup semi-final between Lee Man and Happy Valley, 11 days after ruling that the latter had forfeited the match for failing to pay players’ insurance fees.
At a special board meeting on Friday at its Ho Man Tin headquarters, the HKFA said the decision to overrule the disciplinary committee and rearrange the match was made after considering an appeals committee ruling and sportsmanship.
“Further to the decision of the appeals committee and in consideration of sportsmanship, we think it would be better to decide the match result on the pitch,” said Vincent Yuen Man-chuen, general secretary of the association.
Lee Man said they would not comment at this stage. The club issued a statement before the appeal committee meeting last Saturday saying they would not accept any rematch of the Sapling Cup semi-final tie.
Last week, the disciplinary committee suspended Happy Valley and Pegasus after the two clubs failed to pay the mandatory players’ insurance fees, breaching the Premier League competition rules.
