CONTROVERSIAL Jamaica College (JC) football coach Alfred Henry has appealed a ban by the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) that prohibits him from participating in that capacity in Jamaica for a year.

Attorney-at-law Lance Hylton from the law firm Hylton & Hylton who claims to be acting on behalf of the school and Henry, lodged the appeal in late December on three grounds:

That the sanction imposed is unreasonably harsh and excessive and is not justified by the evidence and surrounding circumstances; that the disciplinary committee was not properly constituted and both the hearing and the decision were void; and that Henry was denied the right of legal representation.

On November 30, members of the ISSA Disciplinary Committee found Henry guilty of misconduct charges — verbally abusing ISSA and match officials — and imposed the ban on him (November 30, 2009 to November 29, 2010).

The veteran coach, a trained teacher who led the Old Hope Road school to the prestigious Urban Area Manning Cup title in 2007, invited trouble when he made disparaging remarks against match officials and administrators following his team’s 2-3 loss to Wolmer’s Boys’.

Henry described the organisers as “incompetent”, and then labelled the referees as “nincompoops”.

However, in his appeal letter to ISSA president Dr Walton Small, Hylton argued that the “effect of the decision is grave and far-reaching, as it effectively denies Jamaica College the services of its coach, but more significantly, denies Henry a livelihood in his vocation of 36 years”.

Hylton added: “He (Henry) would also be unable to seek employment elsewhere within the secondary school system as virtually all secondary schools are also members of ISSA…”

Hylton admitted that Henry erred and that what he did was “inexcusable”, but argued that “it is a well established rule that regardless of the offence committed, there should be some proportionality between the punishment meted out and the offence”.

It was also noted that there was no foul language used by Henry; there was nothing personal said or implied about any individual; there was no direct confrontation or abusive behaviour in the face of any referee or administrator; the interview took place well after the match had ended and the players and referees had left the field; there was no negative reaction to any particular call made by the referee, and no decision was being challenged by Henry.

On the ground that the Disciplinary Committee was not properly constituted, Hylton argued that Clause 8 (i)(vi) of the Rules and Regulations provides that this committee shall “have at least three Principals or Vice-Principals on the committee for any enquiry”, and that was not the case on November 30, when just two principals — Dr Small and Albert Corcho — joined ISSA Competitions Officer George Forbes.

Meanwhile, Forbes acknowledged receipt of the letter of appeal and advised the Observer yesterday that the matter “will now go to a Disciplinary Committee excluding members of the ISSA Executive Committee who sat of the first hearing”.

He added that the make-up and the date of the next Disciplinary Committee meeting to review the case will be determined at an Executive Meeting of ISSA next Tuesday.

“If the decision is upheld then, they could now direct their case to an appeals panel, which will be made up of individuals external to ISSA,” Forbes said.