Virat piles pressure on rudderless Thai FA
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Football Association of Thailand presidential hopeful Virat Chanpanich is aiming to force an end to the power vacuum at the top of Thai football today by submitting a letter to the Sports Authority of Thailand, asking them to enforce the law by holding th
After convincing Pattaya FC to withdraw a lawsuit against the association that had led to Fifa threatening to suspend the FAT, Virat yesterday called on incumbent president Worawi Makudi to stop taking Thai football hostage, insisting he no longer had any right to stay in the post.
Virat reiterated his point that, had Worawi respected FAT regulations by holding the presidential election at its annual congress on March 31, there would have been no lawsuit and no resulting threat of suspension from Fifa. Pattaya’s court move came from Worawi’s attempt to push through a revision of FAT rules in line with Fifa’s new statutes.
Virat believes all the trouble stemmed from Worawi’s effort to link the regulation change to the election.
“FAT regulations state that the presidential election must be held before the end of the incumbent’s mandate. And we complied with those rules for a long time – up until the previous poll two years ago.
“As we know, the stage was set for the election two years ago, but Worawi made an abrupt announcement to call off the vote, citing the duplication of authorisation letters from representatives of two member clubs.
“To abruptly call off the meeting without seeking a majority approval from members was also an infringement of the law, but we didn’t file a suit at the time because we didn’t want the FAT to have problems like those suffered by other sports associations in the country.
“He also misled the public by saying he could continue in the post as acting president and conduct the election within 30 days of his mandate expiring. But according to FAT rules, he can do so only in the event of a resignation or being forced to leave the post by a two-thirds majority of members.
“The rules state clearly that the administrative board must hold an election before completing its mandate. And the election must be staged at the annual congress, which is held not later than March every year. But [Worawi] didn’t do that at the meeting on March 31.
“Therefore, he cannot legitimately run the association after the expiry of his mandate, on June 16. That means he is also unable to stage an election, because current FAT regulations say nothing about holding the post on a caretaker basis,” said Virat.
Virat further revealed that Thai Premier League club Chon Buri FC, who are leading opposition to Worawi and have gathered the support of more than 100 FAT member clubs, would submit a letter to the SAT today, asking them to address issues concerning the election for a new chief.
