Breaking News The Final / Golden Whistle Punishments

By: Greg | May 9th, 2008

I know I was kind of toiling in anonymity earlier when I was throwing up an impromptu live blog of the events below, seeing as there’s about six people a day that visit this, but I wanted to try it out anyways. Here’s the transcript from the aforementioned live blog as well as a commentary below it…

** The primary referee involved, Augosto Duarte, has received a SIX year suspension, stemming from allegations of bribery and match fixing involving, among others, Porto and Boavista during the 2003/4 season.

** The president of relegation-bound Leiria João Bartolomeu is suspended for one year and Leiria are fined 40,000 Euros for their attempted match fixing against Belenenses in 2003/4. Leiria have already announced that they will be filing an appeal of the fine.

** FC Porto president Pinto da Costa has been suspended two years and fined 10,000 Euros. This stems from allegations involving matches between Porto and Estrela da Amadora and now Liga Vitalis side Beira-Mar in 2003/4.

** FC Porto will be docked six points and fined 150,000 Euros.

** Boavista will be relegated to the Liga Vitalis.

** Former Boavista chairman João Loureiro is suspended for two years due to match fixing allegations involving matches between Boavista and Belenenses, Benfica, and Académica during the 2003/4 season.

These punishments had already basically been leaked to the media some time ago, with the exception of the actual exact fine amounts and suspension lengths. Boavista have been a fucking mess all year (who really hasn’t in this crazy league?) so going down a division may actually be good for them in some weird kind of way. I’m interested to see if Paços de Ferreira and Leixões, who are fighting for their SuperLiga lives this weekend will be spared the axe due to the fact that Boavista now makes the second team being relegated after Leiria. I wonder if they’ll simply keep the two league relegation spots in tact, add Boavista as a third team and take the third place team up from the Liga Vitalis as an extra promotion spot.

Most people in Portugal who don’t support Porto hate them as well as Pinto da Costa, so the news regarding the Dragons will probably be extremely well received by those who aren’t Porto fans. Porto supporters can kind of shrug at the point deduction, since they made the league their bitch this year. Therefore, if this year’s performance is any indication of what we can potentially expect next year, six points is such a “so what” in the grand scheme of things that the Porto punishment amounts to a light tap on the wrist at best.

Pinto da Costa had to see this suspension coming and two years out of the spotlight won’t further damage his already sullen reputation. The only person conspicuously absent from major punishment is Valentim Loureiro, former Boavista president and father of apparent “fall guy” João Loureiro. When the initial accusations came out, he was a prominent figure and major “person of interest.” As the days pass, I’m sure more will come out as to why we didn’t hear his name called when the Final Whistle was blown.

Have a lovely weekend. I’ve given you much more than you deserve today, with two bloggings here and one over on the Euro2008 site. Be thankful for what you have been given. For, as the man who is often regarded as the “Father of the American Revolution” Thomas Paine once said, “That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly.” Kisses ALL AROUND!