The Malta FA Disciplinary Commissioner has extended Emmanuel Cordina's ban from eight months to one year after revisiting his actions during Saturday's GFA Division Two match against Oratory Youths.

Initially, the MFA Disciplinary Board handed an eight-month ban to the Qala player after he punched referee Joseph Agius just after he received a second yellow card on 63 minutes and was subsequently dismissed at the Kerċem Stadium.

Cordina's actions forced the referee to abandon the match.

Since then, the GFA have handed the points to Oratory Youths after the governing body decided that the match scoreline, 4-0, would stand.

The initial eight-month ban had been met with disappointment from the Malta Football Referees Association who branded the ruling as ‘scandalous’.

“A scandalous decision from the MFA Disciplinary Commissioner. Eight month suspension for the Qala player is too little and its a ridiculous decision. We won’t exclude further actions in the coming days,” a tweet by the Malta Football Refereees Association said.

The referees governing body also announced that Agius had resigned from his position.

“Meanwhile, today at 12.20pm referee Joseph Agius sent a letter of resignation to the Malta refereeing Department. He resigned from refereeing after a scandalous decision from the MFA Disciplinary Board.”

However, sources have told The Times of Malta that Agius, who is still appalled with the one-year suspension handed to Cordina, is considering whether to withdraw his resignation but he has yet to inform the MFRA of his final decision.

However, as reported by the Times of Malta, the case took another twist when the MFA Disciplinary Commissioner received a second medical certificate on the condition of referee Agius and decided to look again at the case.

The MFA Disciplinary Commissioner yesterday announced that Cordina will now be banned for 12 months and will be able to return to the game on February 26, 2020.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.