Kolkata : All India Football Federation (AIFF) has decided to write regarding the crowd violence to SAFF , in the Women’s SAFF Championship 2024 semi final match between India and Nepal.
India lost the match in the tie-breaker after the match was paused for over 70 minutes.
“The All India Football Federation has taken note of the incidents that happened during the SAFF Women’s Championship 2024 semi-final in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Sunday, October 27, 2024. The AIFF will write to SAFF regarding the incidents and will take it up at the appropriate platform,” the AIFF said in a statement on Monday.
The AIFF also referred to a ‘similar situation’ in a SAFF tournament that happened in Dhaka, Bangladesh on February 24. After India were declared winner in the the U19 final following a coin toss, the crowd got violent. Three hours later, India and Bangladesh were declared joint winners.
“The India U19 women’s team faced an almost similar situation in a SAFF tournament in the recent past (in Bangladesh last February), and the AIFF feels such things are not good for the development of football in the region,” the AIFF added.
AIFF also focused on safety of women players and staffs saying, “For the All India Football Federation, the safety of the women players and staff is always of utmost importance. It is proud of the way the Senior Women’s National Team players, support staff, and officials displayed remarkable restraint and conducted themselves on the pitch under tiring circumstances in Kathmandu. The team came out with their heads high”.
The match between the visiting Indian women’s team and hosts Nepal was interrupted twice, the first of which came when Nepal’s Rekha Poudel was sent off following a second booking. As Nepal protested Bhutanese referee Om Choki’s decision, the fans turned violent. They threw bottles and stones, forcing an assistant referee to leave her line.
The match violence took a further turn following another event. In 62nd minute India’s Sangita Basfore scored a goal, following a 12 minutes halt.
The referee restart whistle even when Indian players were busy celebrating, taking this advantage, Nepal netted their goal.
When officials cancelled the goal, the mob in the crowd went violent. Fans broke into the ground. With the referee urging players to leave the pitch for safety, the match stopped for several minutes. The play resumed almost an hour later.
Sabitra Bhandari equalised for Nepal shortly after the restart. In the tie-breaker, Nepal did not waste a single chance and beat India’s substitute goalkeeper, the debutant Payal Basude who replaced Panthoi Chanu in 90+3 minutes. Manisha and Karishma Shorvoikar scored for India, but skipper Ashalata Devi and Ranjana Chanu missed, resulting in India’s defeat.
AIFF will now talk with SAFF regarding these incidents and come to conclusion.
