The country’s top-flight football experienced a humiliating incident yesterday when bottom-placed Farashganj SC, citing a silly issue, refused to continue playing after 14 minutes into their Manyavar Bangladesh Premier League match against Sheikh Russel KC.
The situation arose when Russel were awarded a penalty following Farashganj defender Farhazzuman Babu’s tackle on Mithun Chowdhury in the 13th minute. Jean Ikanga successfully converted the spot kick only to see the referee Jashimuddin ordering to re-take the penalty as his teammate Mithun Chowdhury ran in the D-box before the whistle.
In the mean time, Jashimuddin also spotted Russel forward Kingsley Chigozie elbowing his counterpart Mahafuz Babu. Jashimuddin cautioned the Nigerian with a yellow, but Farashganj wasn’t content with the decision as they demanded a straight red for offence.
Farashganj, who are at the bottom of the 11-team league and are unlikely to get to a safe position, officials instructed the players to step away from the game and stand in the sidelines until their demand was met. The referee waited for more than 20 minutes for Farashganj to resume with the game before blowing the final whistle and awarding the points to Russel.
Such an event is the first in Bangladesh’s premier league history where a club refused to play after taking the field. Farashganj, who are yet to register a win in the league this season, are likely to pay heavily for their decision of not playing while their relegation is now confirmed.
“We will submit our report to the league committee about what we have seen. League committee will take the decision according to the by-laws,” said match commissioner Sheikh Badruddin.
The deputy chairman of league committee Abdur Rahim was watching the game and said, “The referee left the pitch after 15 minutes according to by-laws. League committee will take necessary steps accordingly after receiving reports from the referee and match commissioner. The disciplinary committee will cut the points of Farashganj, fine them and give punishment.”
Meanwhile, the football committee chairman of Farashganj, Selim Khan spoke like an ametuer as he said, “I instructed my players not to play if the referee do not provide the red card to Kingsley. It was clearly a red card.”
He continued, “We waited for 15 minutes but the referee or none of BFF came to us to talk and request us to play. The referee was not fair to us.”
Russel head coach Maruful Haque termed the incident “unprofessional” saying, “It’s very frustrating, unfortunate and unprofessional. It may only happen in amateur football. It can’t be expected in professional football. BFF has to take it strictly to keep everyone away from such unprofessional activities. Otherwise country’s football will suffer.”
