By Les Tan

Jakarta, Monday, December 8, 2008 – In keeping with the ASEAN political tradition of looking the other way as far as possible, the ASEAN Football Federation disciplinary committee only handed out a one-match suspension to the Myanmar goalkeeper Aung Aung Oo for charging at the Vietnamese referee Phung Ding Dung in the 1-3 loss to Singapore on Sunday night.

Incensed that Singapore were allowed to take a quick free kick that left him cruelly exposed, Aung charged the referee after Agu Casmir scored with a simple tap in to make it 3-1 for Singapore.

His charge and shove also led his whole team to surround the match referee, leading to the bizarre scene of the Myanmar head coach Carlos Antonio Falopa charging into the field to tell his players to cool down and stay on the pitch while the other Myanmar team officials worked in the opposite direction, telling their team to get off.

Play was halted for nine minutes as this ‘wayang’ show was going on, bringing back memories of the Thai walkout in their first-leg final against Singapore in the last edition of the ASEAN Football Championship in 2006.

A hotly-disputed penalty given to Singapore saw the whole Thai team walk off the National Stadium pitch and play was halted for 15 minutes before the Thais were eventually persuaded to return. They suffered no material punishment as a result of the walkout.

However, that was not the worst example of unsportsmanlike behaviour. The final group game between Thailand and Indonesia in the 1998 edition of the ASEAN Football Championship (then known as the Tiger Cup) takes that dubious honour.

Both teams, having qualified for the semi-final stage, were trying to LOSE to each other to avoid facing Vietnam in the semi-final.

With a few minutes left in the game, both teams started trying to score into their own goal. With the score at 2-2, the Indonesians turned on their goal, with the bizarre sight of the Thai players trying to defend the Indonesian keeper.

In injury time, the Indonesian goalkeeper grabbed the ball in the penalty box and then scored an own goal to ensure that his team lost 2-3 to Thailand.

Both teams lost their semi-finals to Singapore and Vietnam and so it all came to nought. Furthermore, both teams were fined $40,000 for “violating the spirit of the game,” and the Indonesian goalkeeper was banned for life.

For a lack of integrity, they should have been thrown out of the competition instead.