Minerva give Srinagar I-League tie a miss, approach Delhi High Court
NEW DELHI: Defending I-League champions Minerva Punjab FC have approached the Delhi High Court after refusing to travel to Srinagar for Monday’s game against Real Kashmir citing security reasons. The club filed a writ petition after the game was cancelled in the team’s absence. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Minerva refused to play after Thursday’s terror attack on a CRPF convoy in J&K’s Pulwama killed over 40 personnel, heightening tensions in the Valley. The Chandigarh club issued a statement on Sunday saying it was not ready to play in Srinagar, calling for the game to be moved to a ‘safe’ venue.
“Minerva Punjab had asked home team and AIFF to produce written assurance/permission from Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India or Indian Army for the match to go ahead, which has not been given to us till now. In fact, no written safety assurance has been given by any authority at all. Therefore, we cannot be expected to travel to Srinagar at our own risk,” the statement read.
AIFF on Monday said that with Minerva not turning up in Srinagar the matter has been referred to its league sub-committee headed by senior vice-president Subrata Dutta. The AIFF disciplinary code says, “If a team refuses to play a match, it will be sanctioned with a minimum fine of ~6 lakh and will, in principle, forfeit the match.”
‘ASSURANCES GIVEN’
Real Kashmir co-owner Sandeep Chattoo said local police had given assurances for the game to go ahead.
“The match commissioner has been here for the last four days. We spoke to the local police authorities and the match commissioner himself met the police and assessed the security situation. They had given assurances,” said Chattoo.
In its statement, AIFF said adequate security had been put in place for the game and pointed out that the Santosh Trophy qualifiers were completed in Jammu’s curfew-bound Katra two days after the Pulwama attack.
The last such incident in Indian top-flight football was in the 2005-06 season when Goan club Fransa Pax refused to turn up for a game against Air India, who were awarded the game.
In 2012, AIFF fined Mohun Bagan ~2 crore and docked all points before letting them play the rest of the competition when they refused to play against East Bengal after their player Syed Rahim Nabi was hit by a missile.
Going by the AIFF statute and the precedence, Real Kashmir will be hopeful of earning a 3-0 win, awarded to a team in case of forfeiture. According to an AIFF official, who requested anonymity given the sensitive nature of
THE KOLKATA CLUB HAS WRITTEN TO AIFF SEEKING CLARIFICATIONS ON SECURITY. THE GAME WAS POSTPONED FROM FEB 10 DUE TO HEAVY SNOWFALL
the issue, the federation is likely to wait for the Delhi HC verdict before its league sub-committee takes a call.
The only remaining game to be played in Srinagar this season is scheduled for Feb 28, against East Bengal. The Kolkata club has written to AIFF seeking clarifications on security. The game was postponed from Feb 10 due to heavy snowfall.