By our Staff Reporter
The Islamabad region phase of the PFF league concluded on the 24th of November at the Jinnah Stadium, Islamabad, with RAVI FC topping the region with 2 wins and 6 points during the phase.
But the phase actually saw only 90 minutes of action, as RAVI FC defeated POONCH FC 4-1, in the only game that was actually played.
Gilgit-Baldistan based GILGIT FC did not turn up for the event. The reasons are still unknown. This led to walk-overs being awarded to the two other teams and more importantly all three teams missed out on some much needed football action.
Why would a team No-Show in such a huge event? After all this is the 2nd highest division in Pakistani football with the 2 winners making their way to the Pakistan Premier League.
The Gilgiti players must have been excited and would have wanted to test their mettle against a higher quality opposition than they are used to. Also, the club would have been looking forward to the competition as they had put in a lot of effort to get here.
Then why didn’t GILGIT FC compete? There is no solid news as of yet. But we can think of a lot of scenarios.
Maybe the GILGIT based club could not arrange the finances required for a trip to Islamabad? Even if the PFF pays their travelling costs, there are expenditures still. Maybe they weren’t informed in time about the schedule? Maybe they never wanted to show up in the first place?
Any reason it may be, this is a big loss. 2 games in such an important competition should not have been arranged and then called off. Maybe another club should’ve had the chance to compete.
These are questions that are yet unanswered. But the PFF should come up with an answer and also make sure that such an episode is never repeated again, for the good of football in Pakistan.
Till the point we can get a solid explanation and reasons, we invite our readers for their comments.