The first violent act, on a football pitch, was committed by a Singaporean footballer, Noh Alam Shah. The second violent act, unlike the first, is a criminal offence. It was committed by a foreigner, Briton Andrew Bevan Jones.

I am perplexed by the strong negative reaction to the reduction of Alam Shah's sentence and the lack of similar reaction in Jones' case.

We have a Singaporean footballer whose livelihood was put in jeopardy by a technicality which, I believe, had been ignored by some foreign football governing bodies in the past.

Remember Abbas Saad, Singapore's former Malaysia Cup player, and Lutz Pfannenstiel, Geylang United's former S-League player? Both were banned from playing football in Singapore for life, but still managed to resume their football careers elsewhere.

However, Alam Shah's attempt to play in Malaysia was blocked by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM). The FAM, unlike foreign football associations in the cases of Abbas and Pfannenstiel, decided to activate a regulation which effectively turned his sentence into a worldwide ban.

So it is only right that the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) reduce Alam Shah's sentence, since its original intention was not to restrict his livelihood.

There is also no indication that Alam Shah's talent played a part in FAS' decision to reduce his sentence. He won't be eligible to play in any of Singapore's crucial remaining World Cup third- round qualifying matches.

In Jones' case, he resorted to violence during a financial dispute with a taxi driver. I believe Jones will be allowed to remain in Singapore with his rice bowl intact, even though he has committed a criminal offence in our own backyard.

Comparing these two cases, the 'disastrous own goal' Sports reporter Wang Meng Meng alluded to last Thursday ('FAS' about-turn in Alam Shah's case a let-down''), was scored not by FAS but by Singaporeans, judging by their different reactions to the two violent acts.

As for Alam Shah, I look forward to him donning the Lions jersey again and doing Singapore proud. If we can be so forgiving of Jones, surely we can do the same for Alam Shah.

Michael Ang