Minerva move court, East Bengal, too, seek security assurance

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 18

Football in Jammu & Kashmir has taken a major hit after the Pulwama attack on the CRPF last Thursday. Minerva Punjab FC have knocked on the doors of the Delhi High Court after three points were docked by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for the club’s refusal to travel to Srinagar to play against Real Kashmir FC on Monday. In its plea, the Chandigarh-based club has said that the forfeiture should be considered as force majeure and that the venue and the date of the match should be changed. The club has also asked the courts to stop AIFF from deducting three points for forfeiture.

Meanwhile, AIFF in a statement said that the club faced more sanctions for the no-show on Monday.

“With I-League defending champions Minerva Punjab FC failing to turn up for their scheduled match against Real Kashmir FC on February 18 at TRC Ground in Srinagar, the match commissioner’s report, along with other relevant documents, are being referred to the All India Football Federation’s League Committee for further action as per the I-League regulations,” the statement read.

The federation added that there was no threat to the players as adequate security was granted by the local authorities for the qualifying matches of the Santosh Trophy held at Katra, approximately 36 kilometres from Jammu which is still under curfew.

However, Minerva owner Ranjit Bajaj in a series of online posts criticised the move saying a match commissioner’s report couldn’t be the basis of allaying safety fears.

“I have to answer to the parents of all my team members and I can’t take responsibility for their lives as I don’t think it’s safe to travel their! … even today encounters going on one hour from Srinagar airport,” he wrote on Twitter.

“How can you force people to play? It’s a very personal decision and if someone wants security agency guarantees and they give match commissioner guarantee — sorry match commissioner’s guarantee is not good enough for my foreigners to go against their embassies… and we can all see what is still happening one hour from the airport,” he wrote.

EB seek assurances

Meanwhile, East Bengal has written a letter seeking security assurances before they take on Real Kashmir in Srinagar on February 28. East Bengal wrote to AIFF on February 15 about questions raised by the coaching staff and a few of the players regarding safety measures. AIFF has communicated to them verbally that the match would be held on the same date and there was no reason for it to be postponed. “They wrote to us four days back. We have told them that as far as our information, the match will be held in Srinagar,” I-League CEO Sunando Dhar told The Tribune. “We have been told that the place is good enough to play matches as it is perfectly alright in Srinagar,” he added.