Sports Reporter – The Nation
ISLAMABAD – Islamabad Football Association (IFA) failed to stamp out their authority during the leagues as a deadly brawl breaks out between Youngster Football Club and Friends FC players during the IFA b Division League match, which was played at Mehran Football Ground Karachi Company.
Inside sources have confirmed to this scribe that referee Arsalan Nomi awarded a yellow card to Youngster Club player Aziz in a very crucial match on a very minor mistake which infuriated the player who slapped referee and the match turned into a street fight in which supporters of both sides, players and officials get involved and the football ground was presenting a war-like scene. Referees Dilawar Hussain and Arsalan Nomi were severely injured during the brawl.
The most interesting thing to note was the organisers and IFA secretary M. Zaman looked completely hapless and instead of trying to stop the fight and take appropriate action against the culprits, they were standing as silent spectators and kept on watching the entire episode without even thinking about interfering. Both the referees along with players were severely injured and were taken to hospital where referees received stitches to their wounds.
A lot of complaints were made against IFA self-styled policies and against their failure to take proper action in the past too, but Pakistan Football Federation, reasons best known to them never bothered to take notice of genuine complaints and instead whenever a complaint was lodged against IFA president or any other office-bearer, federation kept a complete mom on the issue.
The football lovers of twin cities have demanded the PFF to take stern action against the trouble-makers, who against all norms slapped referee and created a highly unbearable situation and they also demanded PFF secretary Col (R) Ahmed Yar Lodhi to look into this matter of grave concern, which had brought bad name for not only association but also for the federation.