Press
release November 19. 2008
Napolioni
Nalaga banned for three matches
In a
blow to the Sports Hydrant Pacific Islanders, flying winger Napolioni
Nalaga has received a three week ban for a red card given
to him last Saturday. Nalaga was given his marching orders in the
18th minute against France – a contentious decision that consigned
the Pacific Islanders to another defeat.
Nalaga
was contrite following his dismissal – he even ventured close
to the French dressing room where he apologised to the French number
9 Jean-Baptiste Elissade for the accident.
PI head
coach Quddus Fielea
was understandably upset but also philosophical about the three
week suspension:
“It
was always going to be hard to overturn the red card especially
given the media outcry over the last few days. I think this was
about the best we could have done."
Manager
Sitiveni Rabuka, who travelled to the hearing in
Paris to support Nalaga, paid tribute to Nalaga’s integrity
and also praised the team that defended the charges:
“Napolioni
is a wonderful young man, a very proud Pacific Islander and very
contrite about what happened. The committee agreed there was no
malice and that the collision was essentially an unfortunate accident.
The team defending him performed admirably – special thanks
should be reserved for Marcus Agnew,
Dave Arthur and Bob
Tuckey, who between them formulated an excellent
case that was commented on by the hearing committee.
“We
must now move on and focus our efforts on the task at hand. We are
confident of victory over Italy on Saturday afternoon."
The
Sports Hydrant Pacific Islanders play Italy on Saturday
22 November (Italian time) in the picturesque town of Regio
Emillio.
