MBU slapped with heavy fines

Premier League champions Montego Bay United have been slapped with hefty fines amounting to $250,000 by the Professional Football Association of Jamaica (PFAJ), arising from the club's protest action leading up to the May 1 final against Portmore United.

The club has accepted five of the nine charges and in return has emailed the PFAJ outlining their concerns on the matter, Sandra Christie, MBU's operations manager, told STAR Sports.

"As expected, the PFAJ has made a ruling and has decided to fine us, citing nine breaches in the process. However, we at MBU, while accepting five, are certainly not accepting four others, and have in turn responded by email for further dialogue on the issues," Christie said.

CHARGES OUTLINED

In a release yesterday, the PFAJ outlined the charges against the league champions, citing and fining the club $25,000 for failure to attend an official function (the RSPL Press Conference on April 21, 2016).

They were also fined a further $25,000 for failure on the club's part to once again attend an official function (media interview on April 28, 2016). MBU were also fined $25,000 for failure to attend the RSPL final match coordination meeting, which was held on April 29, 2016.

In addition, they were fined $15,000 for what the PFAJ deemed 'reasons not acceptable by the PFAJ operations committee for arriving late for the final on May 1.

"We are refuting some on the grounds that the PFAJ erred in their assessment. We are willing to pay the fines of five charges as laid out but not on the others because they are really outrageous," Christie stated.

MBU were also fined $100,000 for disregarding instructions on entering the field of play, $20,000 for entering the pitch area in garment or equipment bearing unauthorised slogans, another $20,000 for failure to provide a team start list on match day in a set time frame (as per event countdown), and $20,000 for failure to have team's change room prepared in set timeline (as per PFAJ advisory).