BDFA Super Division to resume on Thursday

The BDFA Super Division league will resume on Thursday. The league had been bought to a halt after seven referees - set to officiate the two games on Tuesday - failed to turn up to officiate the games.

This came a day after a physical altercation following FC Bengaluru United's win over Bengaluru FC Reserves. On Monday, referee Suresh Devraj bore the brunt of the ruckus that broke after he showed a red card to a BFC player after the game and the situation turned sour. A club official allegedly got into a physical altercation with the referees.

The Karnataka State Football Association secretary M Satyanarayan said: "The referees came and apologised unconditionally. So we have ended their suspension," he said.

The KSFA have also asked Balasubramaniam, the chairman of the referees' committee, to withdraw his resignation.

However, the committee will look into the matter of indiscipline.

"We decided to officiate the matches under protest (after the Monday's game). I don't know why they (the referees) refused to do so and why they apologised today," said SM Balu, the referee coordinator. "They said that it wasn't intentional but they have to take responsibility. We'll see what do about this as a referees' committee."

Following the two-day break, the league will now end on March 16 and will restart with FC Bengaluru United taking on FC Deccan. FCBU, who can secure the title with a win here, were slated to play on Friday. With the fixtures revised, they were given an option to play on Thursday or Sunday and they opted for the former.

"Friday was supposed to be their last game so they had booked tickets for their players for Friday night. Since it's expensive to cancel tickets for nearly 30 players, they opted for Thursday and we (KSFA) were able to talk to the other clubs and get the schedule cleared for them," Satyanarayan said.

Disciplinary action

Meanwhile, the referees have submitted their report on Monday's game to the BDFA and the district body has called for a disciplinary committee meeting on Thursday.

"They've given the report and the disciplinary committee will meet tomorrow evening," confirmed BDFA chairman Dr Anthony SL. "I will be chairing the meeting along with two KSFA, BDFA and referee committee members each and we will decide what to do about what happened in that match."

It has been learned that two BFC players, an official and another who entered the referees' room have been mentioned in the report.

Anthony also confirmed that he has requested the police presence at the games.

"We have requested police presence but they are also understaffed. But they will nonetheless have a Hoysala in the vicinity," he said.