Odisha coach sacked, another faces ban

The Indian Super League is making headlines for the wrong reasons with England's Stuart Baxter, the Odisha FC coach, and East Bengal's star coach, also an Englishman -Robbie Fowler – are in the line of fire for their remarks.

A former Wolverhampton player, Baxter has been sacked for making an unsavoury comment on rape to criticise a refereeing decision after the team's loss to Jamshedpur FC.

East Bengal's star coach Robbie Fowler faces a minimum ban of five matches and Rs 6 lakh fine for an alleged racist remark against referees after a match against FC Goa.

The Odisha club issued a public apology after the Englishman suggested one of his players "will have to rape someone or be raped" to get a penalty after the 0-1 loss to Jamshedpur FC in Bambolim, Goa, on Monday. "Odisha FC has decided to terminate the contract of Head Coach Baxter with immediate effect. The interim coach for the remainder of the season will be announced soon," the club said in a statement on Tuesday.

Odisha FC lost a tightly-contested match, leaving Baxter displeased by the refereeing. Odisha made a late penalty claim after Diego Mauricio was tripped by TP Rehenesh in the penalty area but it was turned down by the referee.

"You need decisions to go your way, and they didn't. I don't know when we are going to get our penalty. One of my players will have to rape someone or get raped himself if he was going to get a penalty...," Baxter said in the post-match interview.

The club quickly issued a statement apologising for Baxter's comments, stressing that the 67-year-old's views do not reflect its values.

"The Club is appalled at the comments made by Head Coach, Stuart Baxter during the post-match interview today. It is completely unacceptable whatever the context and does not reflect the values of the club," the club had tweeted on Monday.