Two referees were physically hit by officials and players of Kingstar Sporting Club after a second division football league 2022-23 match in the capital which saw 10 persons receive six-month suspensions.
The rare violence took place at Kamalapur Stadium soon after the game between Kingstar and Gouripur Sporting Club ended on the first day of this month.
When the referees were leaving the field, Kingstar head coach Ashraful Haque Apel and player Jahidur Rahman Joblu punched and kicked the main referee, a source told Dhaka Tribune.
The other officials, players and a ball boy also joined the one-sided battle as team manager Syed Abdullah Harun attacked the referee with a chair.
The chest of the referee was hurt; the body spotted by boot spikes and the jersey ripped off.
The fourth referee also could not avoid the cruelty and was left injured.
The referees were taken to nearby Mugda General Hospital afterwards for treatment.
They required pain killers and antibiotics.
“They are now physically well but mentally traumatized. I have never seen such organized attack on referee in 17 years,” said a senior referee who requested anonymity.
The disciplinary committee of Bangladesh Football Federation chaired by Mezbah Uddin called a meeting at BFF House Monday to discuss the issue.
A press release Wednesday stated that the disciplinary committee decided to ban 10 affiliated to Kingstar - head coach, manager, assistant manager, ball boy and six players - for six months from all kind of football activities.
The other players involved are Borhan Uddin, Jobaer Ahmed, Hasan Sikder, Alamin Hossain and Forkan Ahmed.
The committee also fined the club Tk1 lakh according to the disciplinary code No.48.
A high-up of Kingstar who requested anonymity told Dhaka Tribune that the club also suspended assistant manager Nurul Haque and two footballers, including Joblu, for life and warned the head coach.
The Kingstar official said the team were not happy with the refereeing while others claimed that the referee threw offensive words at the head coach but a top BFF referee rejected the accusation.
