Some decisions in the world of professional soccer seem to make little sense, on the field and off.  We all know referees make bad decisions on the pitch, but you would expect more from the ruling bodies of the sport off the pitch. Which is why the decision taken by the Confederation of African Football to bar the Togo national team from the next two African Cup of Nations competitions and fine the team $50,000 for pulling out of this month’s competition is so mind boggling.

The Togo team of course pulled out because their team bus was ambushed by gunmen. Player after player has described the horror of sitting on the bus being fired upon for thirty minutes. Two club officials died and reserve goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale is still lying in a South African hospital with a bullet in his spine. Manchester City star Emanuel Adebayor admitted he toyed with the idea of giving up soccer and he only returned to his team this week.

The soccer purists might say that CAF are only obeying the rules. The rule in question is Article 78 which specifies such a ban can be enforced if a team pulls out of a competition on short notice. Even that argument won’t work though because Article 80 allows for the forgiveness of such an act without penalty “'in cases of force majeure accepted by CAF."

'Force majeure' allows for an extraordinary event or unforeseen circumstance. Ambush by gun wielding terrorists whilst on your way to soccer practice certainly should qualify as one of those. Even the timing of the announcement is poor. The emotion and controversy this is bound to stir up will certainly overshadow the finals of a competition that has still managed to be all about soccer in spite of the tragedy.

Togo does have the right to appeal the decision, but the draw for the 2012 African Nations Cup is looming and even if they are successful it may be too late. Many soccer pundits are calling for the head of CAF, Issa Hayatou to be replaced. A number of reporters noted that he showed little empathy for the Togo players when discussing the incident and considering that this should be the biggest year in the history of African soccer maybe it is time for someone else with a little more political savvy to take Hayatou’s place.

And you have to wonder what the aforementioned Obilale thinks about the CAF decision. Unless the appeal succeeds, even if he can ever return to playing professional soccer again, he'll be unable to compete in the next two Nations Cups. Not exactly the nicest of get well wishes from the CAF.