Crowd unrest, safety of women’s team forced India to share SAFF U-19 women’s title with Bangladesh

Crowd unrest, safety of women’s team forced India to share SAFF U-19 women’s title with Bangladesh

The “simmering situation” and security concerns forced India to share the SAFF U-19 Women’s Championship title with hosts Bangladesh after the final on Thursday.

A top official of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), while explaining the rationale behind the decision, also raised serious security concerns when the country’s age-group teams travel abroad for tournaments.

India’s U-19 women’s team faced Bangladesh in the final of the championship at the BSSS Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Dhaka. Despite being intimidated by the huge home crowd, the Indian girls did well to take the lead. Bangladesh, however, equalised in injury time at the end of the second half, and the referee told the teams that the match would be decided in a penalty shootout.

Stunningly, all 11 players from both teams converted their kicks. The referee was about to continue the penalties in the sudden death situation when, after speaking to the match commissioner, suddenly decided that the title should be decided via a coin toss.

The two captains were called, and the toss of the coin went in India’s favour.

However, that wasn’t the end of the story as the Bangladeshi players refused to leave the field in protest and the unruly fans intimidated the Indian contingent. There were also reports of fans throwing stones and bottles on the ground, in a huge embarrassment for SAFF officials and tournament organisers.

As the protests were getting louder and even more unruly, the match commissioner changed his decision once again and India and Bangladesh were declared joint winners.

“Despite being declared winners after the spin of the coin, we decided to accept the officials’ request for sharing the trophy as the situation was simmering and a section of the home fans was creating disturbances,” acting AIFF secretary M Satyanarayan told The Indian Express, adding that it was only because of security reasons that they decided to share the trophy.

“Since the security of the players and other team officials is our utmost priority, the AIFF decided to agree to the request of the organisers,” he said.

Unprecedented call

The decision by the match officials to first have a toss and then declare both teams as joint winners was baffling, because no football match has yet been decided by the spin of a coin.

FIFA and AFC match commissioner Arunava Bhattacharya, who was present at the venue, but not in any official capacity, said that the penalties should’ve continued.

“I cannot comment on the match in any official capacity. However, as per rules, penalties/sudden death should continue till there is a result,” Bhattacharya, who was the match commissioner for the U-23 South-East Asia (SEA) Games final between Thailand and Indonesia last year which saw four red cards and two brawls, said.

While Thursday’s incident has shocked the footballing fraternity and SAFF officials will most likely be pulled up, the AIFF has yet to register an official complaint and are waiting for detailed feedback about the contingent that went to the competition.

“With regards to a formal protest, we will wait for a thorough report from our team manager and head coach on their return, before we take a call on the matter,” Satyanarayan said.

The young team returned to New Delhi on Friday to a grand welcome. They were garlanded by senior AIFF officials while hundreds of supporters – drums in tow – showed up at the airport.

Skipper Nitu Linda said the support was surreal. “So many people have come to the airport to greet us today. This really gives us a boost to do well in the future”.

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