Eight Premier players banned
Eight players from Premier League teams received a one-match ban yesterday.
Championship Pool hopefuls Hamrun Spartans were the worst affected as two of their most influential players, Rupert Mangion and Gaetan Spiteri, were among those suspended after collecting a fourth yellow card in their team's 5-0 defeat to Birkirkara last weekend.
Mangion and Spiteri are ruled out of the Spartans' key match against Floriana on Monday.
The Greens, whose own future in the Championship Pool is by no means certain, will be without Clifton Ciantar, the left-back also disciplined after his fourth booking in his side's 3-2 defeat to Msida St Joseph.
Also suspended for four yellow cards were Msida's Tyrone Farrugia and Svetlan Kondev, Pietà's Bulgarian midfielder.
The three players who were sent off last weekend, Marsaxlokk striker Julio Alcorse, Sliema midfielder Andre Rocha Da Silva and Mqabba goalkeeper Paul Psaila, have also been banned for one match.
Hefty punishment
Further down the local football pyramid, Division Three club Zejtun Corinthians had no fewer than six players on the suspensions' list after a mass brawl led to the abandonment of their league match against Fgura United at the Centenary Stadium last Monday.
Elton Caruana and Mario Farrugia, the two Zejtun players who saw red during the match, and team captain Ludvic Fardell have been suspended for four matches. Fardell has also been stripped of the team's captaincy.
The other Zejtun players suspended were: Norbert Gerada (two matches), Roderick Gafa (one match) and Jean Paul Abela (one match).
Fgura's Clint Ellul, who was dismissed along with Farrugia after the two came to blows late on, was suspended for two matches.