Amer terms interview 'fabricated'
Having said that his interview with a private satellite channel regarding match-fixing in football was distorted, Brothers Union manager Amer Khan yesterday claimed he did not mention any specific football match between Abahani and Brothers, but that he had mentioned those matches which he played during his football career.
Amer also claimed that his comments regarding the fixed match were aired out of context and it was not a reflection of what he wanted to say.
Amer appeared before the Professional Football League Committee (PFLC) of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) yesterday to explain himself regarding his comments which were aired by Ekattor TV on August 7. The PFLC summoned him before the emergency meeting with relevant evidences in favour of his comments.
The PFLC met with Amer for nearly one hour and played the video of his aired interview before asking him to elaborate on his match-fixing comments, but Amer termed his interview a fabricated one.
“They aired my words out of context and I am not in agreement with the interview that was aired,” said Amer after emerging from the meeting.
“I had an hour-long chat with that reporter but I had never mentioned this season's Abahani-Brothers match, rather I mentioned the football matches that we had to give away at times during my football career,” said Amer, adding that he had only mentioned the Abahani-Brothers match in his attempt to make a point -- querying whether that match should also be under a cloud because Brothers lost to a ten-man Abahani.
But the former national footballer clearly said in the interview that “Everyone has their fingers raised against a relegation-threatened club, but no one dares to do so against the champions. Is it too difficult to understand how we lost 2-4 against Abahani when they were playing with 10 men? We had to do so because there were specific instructions given to us to lose. When an influential political leader tells you to throw the match, what else could you do?” (The Daily Star, August 8, 2012).
Amer's dual stance has put the professional football committee in confusion.
“We have taken the matter seriously because a club official has admitted to playing a fixed match. But we first want to clear the confusion over his disparate comments in the TV interview and during the meeting.
“We will now request the authority of Ekattor TV to provide us uncut footage to understand the matter. We can even talk to the club officials, the journalist who interviewed Amer and Amer again,” said PFLC chairman and BFF senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy.
“After clearing the confusion, we will look into the match-fixing matter. The league committee will look after the matter instead of the Fixed-Match Identification Committee and we will try to reach a consensus as soon as possible,” said Salam.
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