The big announcement comes after they lost 3-2 against fierce rivals East Bengal
After terming the I-League match officials as “incompetent”, Mohun Bagan on Thursday posted a letter to Praful Patel, the president of All India Football Federation. The letter said that the teams in I-League are suffering due to poor refereeing standard.
A letter which is sent to Shri Praful Patel, President, All India Football Federation by Shri Swapan Sadhan Bose (Tutu). pic.twitter.com/Ql6XJjzKwc
— Mohun Bagan (@Mohun_Bagan) December 20, 2018
The bid call came after Kolkata – based football was defeated in the fierce I-League derby battle against East Bengal by a margin of 3-2. Unsurprisingly, the weekend fixture was marked by a string of controversies mostly revolving around the decisions taken by the referee.
It was Azharuddin Mallick who drew the first blood, scoring a sublime goal in the 13th minute of the match. However, just four minutes later, the hosts levelled by scoring through Lalrinmawia Ralte. Just before the half-time, Justin took advantage of a momentarily switched off defence and scored a fantastic back-volley, triggering massive celebrations around the stadium.
Mohan Bagan, who were looking to make a comeback, faced a setback instead when captain Eze Kingsley got a second yellow card for a reckless tackle on Jamie Colado from the back. It is probably this referring decision that seems to have incensed Bagan to file a complaint among others.
The visitor’s problems were further worsened when East Bengal scored the third goal in the 61st minute through Ralte to virtually seal the game.
Even though Mohun Bagan did score a late goal, it was too late to make a comeback in the game with East Bengal contempt to sit back and defend their lead.
-- Advertisement --Since the loss, Mohun Bagan has returned back to winning ways with a 1-0 win over Minerva Punjab on Wednesday.
But that did not stop MB from filing the complaint. Swapan Sadhan Bose, the club director, protested that they had “suffered immensely due to some extremely poor and incompetent decisions by the referee and linesman”.
“Modern day football across the globe has witnessed the uses of VAR and goal-line technology. But it’s missing in Indian football.”
“The I-League is evenly-poised as any of the top seven teams can become champions. We do not desire any favours from the AIFF but expect the game to be played fair,” his letter read.
It will be interesting to see how the governing body of I-League react to this complaint, especially at a time when Kushal Das, General Secretary of AIFF, stated that Mohun Bagan (along with East Bengal and others) could become a part of ISL.
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