Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 00:30 [IST]
Last Update: Monday, Sep 09, 2024 18:53 [IST]
Sikkim Boys boycott ‘A’ Division, says no energy left to fight inept referees & indifferent SFA
GANGTOK,: Debutants Sikkim Boys FC have bowed out the ‘A’ Division S-League
after playing only two matches, saying that the club and their players do not have any energy left to fight with
inept match referees and indifferent Sikkim Football Association (SFA) for its
remaining 12 games.
“We are
exhausted. We do not want to continue quarrelling with the match referees and
SFA, and are boycotting the A Division S-League organised by the SFA. We will
continue playing tournaments but this league, our club executives have decided
to boycott. It does not look good for the game, the players and the club to
have bitter disputes and heated arguments with the referees at every game. Out
of the six matches played so far in the league, three matches could not be held
fully due to poor referee decisions and inability of the SFA to resolve such
issues from recurring. This league is only teaching indiscipline among the
players,” said the Sikkim Boys executives in a media conference here on Monday.
Sikkim
Boys FC had walked out of its second league match against Howlers FC Singtam on
Sunday at Paljor Stadium to protest an alleged wrong decision by the match
official which cost them a goal. The incident happened just before half-time,
and the club was declared as having conceded the match by the SFA.
Maintaining
that the club was a victim of erroneous decisions, Sikkim Boys executives
contended that the ‘A Division’ league has seen a series of similar poor
refereeing in the six games played till Sunday.
“Another
previous match could not also be completed and went unresolved and we saw how
those clubs protested the following day (Sunday) causing the day’s matches to
start late. The ultimate victims are the people who turn out to watch the ‘A’
Division matches as they are unsure whether the matches would be held or not.
Games are started late due to previous issues, people have to wait for two
hours for the match to start and when the match actually starts, it does not
even last 30 minutes due to referee-related controversies.”
Sikkim
Boys FC president Puspa Gurung, treasurer Balaram Pradhan, coach Kamal Bagdas,
team captain Karma Bhutia and others were addressing the media. They stressed
that the SFA insists on the clubs to have AIFF-licensed coaches but do not seek
matching requirements for their referees, ultimately compromising the quality
of match officials, leading to acrimonious results.
“The SFA
has no interest in addressing the complaints of the clubs. Elsewhere we have
conflicts and tussles among the players. Here we have players versus the
referees, and clubs versus the SFA and this happens every year. There is
already a huge hostility among the players and referees in the six games played
so far and still there are 50 more matches left. We cannot even imagine how
worse the situation would be by the time the league is completed and as such,
we do not want to get drawn into further conflicts and boycott the league.
There are other tournaments coming up within and outside Sikkim where our team
will participate for the overall development of our players,” said the Sikkim
Boys executives.
Sikkim
Boys is a club formed in 2014 by ex-national players of Sikkim, some of whom
have played professional football also.
The club mostly played in veterans’ tournaments but later set up a
junior team which played in ‘C’ Division before progressing into ‘B’ Division
and finally in ‘A’ Division this year.