Hockey players demand further

The disorder in the hockey arena was turned up a notch yesterday as the national team players continued their boycott of the preparation camp for the Asia Cup demanding an official guarantee from the Bangladesh Hockey Federation general secretary Khwaja Rahmatullah of a transfer window before the domestic season. The players also raised two more demands, that no club alone could take players from BKSP and the quota for foreign players should be lowered to three. They said they will continue boycotting the camp if the federation don’t provide a written guarantee of their demands. A total of 20 players sat with the general secretary Khwaja Rahmatullah yesterday with their demands. "We want a written guarantee from him (Khwaja Rahmatullah) about the players’ transfers date but the secretary refused. How can we play under a general secretary who can't even provide us assurance of the transfers," said Russell Khan Bappi, president of the players’ welfare association. The players had earlier boycotted the national camp after demanding a date for the pre-season players’ transfer and the hockey federation sat with the club representatives on Saturday night to set a date. The federation decided to hold the players transfers from July 2 to 4. But the players now want a guaranteed date for a new season of the Dhaka Premier Hockey League.