Tempers flare in Srinagar

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 9

Scores of members of the Snow Leopards Fans, which is the official fan club of Real Kashmir FC, clapped sarcastically as referee Umesh Bora, his assistants Nasar Vallykaparambil and Parvin Kumar Farasi, and fourth official Crystal John made their way out of the TRC Turf Ground here today. Match commissioner Shirzad Hosi Bhathena escorted them out, fearing that the fans may turn against the officials. Nothing untoward happened but the fans vented their anger against the officials for what they perceived as biased officiating that cost their team the match. East Bengal beat Real Kashmir 1-0 to climb to the second spot in the I-League table.

Both the managers, East Bengal’s Mario Rivera and Real’s David Robertson, vented their frustration. Rivera alleged that a coloured player in his team was a victim of a racial slur and also suggested that the home team was more interested in wrestling than football. Robertson countered by suggesting that the East Bengal players were diving to get advantage.

Emotions were high both on and off the pitch and the result was a bad-tempered match. The home fans were chanting “Gali gali me shor hai, referee chor hai” throughout the match as they thought the East Bengal players were getting soft free kicks. Local hero Danish Farooq Bhat (19th minute), Robin Singh (25th) and Mason Robertson (26th) were shown yellow in a space of six minutes. And when Bhat was shown a second yellow for simulation in the 38th minute, the fans erupted.

Battle

If the first half was a testy affair, the second half was a battle. After he was substituted, Robin was red carded in the 80th minute for shouting at the officials from the home team’s bench. But the real drama happened right at the death. In the fifth minute of added time, East Bengal’s Juan Mera Gonzalez was brought down by skipper Loveday Okechukwu in the box. Victor Perez stepped up to score the penalty, which resulted in a fracas involving the players. Real’s Kallum Higginbotham and visitors’ Edmund Lalrinkdika were red carded after the incident.

A few of the fans entered the pitch to confront the referee, but were escorted out before any damage was done. Real Kashmir co-owner Sandeep Chattoo had to plead with the supporters to show restrain. “Thankfully no damage was done,” Chattoo said.

Racist slur

Meanwhile, the East Bengal manager accused the hosts of playing rough. “They turned a football match into a wrestling match,” Rivera said. “I am very happy that all my players are alive and not injured,” he added.

Rivera added that he heard a racist slur from the home side’s bench. “I heard someone from the Kashmir bench calling a coloured player of my team ‘f*****g m****y’,” he said. He added there was no need to lodge a formal complaint as both the match commissioner and referee would have heard the slur too and it was up to them to file the charges.

Robertson, though, rubbished Rivera’s allegation. And he launched a counter by suggesting the East Bengal players were diving to get free kicks. For him, if Bhat’s second bookable offence was a dive, then so was the incident involving Gonzalez that resulted in the penalty.

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