The BDFA Super Division League plunged into crisis on Sunday with the competition being postponed for one week after the referees arrived late for the first game of the day between Students Union and Madras Engineer Group (MEG) here at the Bangalore Football Stadium.
“We have decided to postpone the matches by one week,” said BDFA secretary ST Bhoopal.
The League was scheduled to end on Thursday, with the prize distribution slated for next Sunday.
The matches will now resume on January 21 and conclude by Jan 25.
Though the BDFA cited the late arrival of the officials for the cancellation of the matches, the referees had a different take on the issue.
“The officials were a bit late as they were caught in a traffic jam. Three of the four referees had reached the venue by 1.45 pm. (The scheduled kick-off was at 1.00 pm). On many occasions we have waited for the players to turn up.
But the BDFA wanted to put the blame on us and cancelled the second match too citing the absence of referees. The officials for the second game (between Army Service Corps and KGF-BEML Sports Club) were present by 2.15 pm (kick-off at 3.00 pm). Why didn’t the organisers go ahead with the second match?,” asked a senior referee on the condition of anonymity.
“We waited till 2 pm and since the referees were missing we decided to cancel the matches,” said a senior BDFA official.
Meanwhile, the referees were quick to add that they were upset over the BDFA decision to revoke the ban imposed on Jupiter FC secretary S Devoo from entering the official enclosure. Devoo was handed a one-year ban after players from his side were involved in a fracas with referee Andrew during a ‘B’ Division match last February.
The referees had refused to come out after half-time during the match between BEML and MEG on December 29 citing the revocation of the ban. They eventually continued the match after the intervention of KSFA deputy secretary SA Basheer.
Later, the KSFA conducted a meeting on January 7 and the matter was believed to have been sorted out.
“We don’t agree to the decision to revoke the ban on Devoo. Besides, a senior KSFA official made a derogatory comment about the senior match officials during the meeting. We’re deeply hurt,” said a senior referee.
Sources revealed that a meeting featuring the KSFA, BDFA and KSFA Referees Committee representatives is likely to take place in the coming days.