Abandoned for a third time!
While the race for the champions in the Manyavar Bangladesh Premier League has already been sealed, with Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club comfortably defending their title, the remainder of the league is being stretched beyond schedule, thanks to a particular fixture between third-placed Sheikh Russel KC and relegation threatened Farashganj SC, which has now been abandoned for a third time.
This fixture, which started on Friday, was deferred to the next day after only four minutes of play was possible due to heavy rainfall. There was less rain on Saturday, yet the match had to be abandoned as one of the teams felt the pitch was unplayable. Even though the other team were eager to take field, the match commissioner, after much deliberation, decided in favour of abandoning the match. It could be argued that a number of matches during this monsoon season have been held on the soggy and unplayable pitch of the Bangabandhu National Stadium, thanks to the poor drainage system in place and the lack of options at hand.
However, things took a comical turn when the match in question that started yesterday after a day's break was abandoned for a third time after only 14 minutes of play. This time though there was no hand of the weather gods in the affair, rather it was a refereeing decision and the resulting unprofessionalism on part of the teams, which led to the abandonment.
Sheikh Russel, fighting to claim the second position, earned a spot kick following a foul on their striker Mithun Chowdhury inside the Farashganj danger zone. Mithun's teammate Jean Jules Ikanga duly dispatched the spot kick, but as he was taking the kick, some of the players rushed inside the box, including Sheikh Russel striker Kingsley Chigozie, who elbowed Farashganj's Mahafuz Babu.
The referee, Joshimuddin, ordered a retake of the spot kick while showing the culprit, Chigozie, a yellow card. The decision did not go down well with the Farashganj players and they demanded that a red card be shown to the Nigerian. As the referee didn't pay heed to this demand, the Farashganj players left the field and never returned within the stipulated time, forcing the officials to call it a day.
Match commissioner Sheikh Badruddin informed that they would submit their report to the league committee for a ruling about the match.
Whatever the decisions come, the repeated abandonment of the match and the resulting logjam has forced the game's governing body to reschedule the fixtures, according to which the league will now end a week later than previously scheduled July 13. That will, in turn, mean that the time span for Bangladesh national team's camp for the August 29 friendly in Malaysia and subsequent FIFA World Cup Qualifying fixtures against Australia and Jordan will be next to nothing.
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