If FIFA was governed in same style of the Bangladesh Football Federation then Louis Van Gaal would not have been Manchester United coach, at least for this season.
On July 23 before the last group match of the World Cup, the then Netherland’s manager Louis Van Gaal blasted FIFA over the fixture schedule which could see his side facing Brazil in the next round.
Van Gaal felt FIFA was lenient to the hosts and had made the fixtures in such a way that they would face the Netherlands in the second round.
Brazil coach Luis Felipe Scolari later branded the suggestions as ‘stupid and ill-intentioned’ and there were many in the football world to agree with him. But FIFA did not serve any show-cause notice on Van Gaal let alone impose any punishment.
A similar allegation against the Bangladesh Football Federation, the governing body of local football, however, has earned the reputed coach Maruf Ahmed a one-year suspension.
A self-claimed strict disciplinarian BFF did not only ban Maruf, one of the very few coaches having an AFC licence, but also fined him Tk 30,000 despite the coach apologised for his remarks.
Maruf, who guided Sheikh Russell KC to treble in 2012-13 season, on February 28 crticised the professional football league committee for changing the fixtures of the Bangladesh Premier League which he said ‘to favour rivals Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club’.
The BFF disciplinary committee issued a show-cause letter to Maruf and in reply the coach apologised for his comments. Interestingly, Sheikh Russell KC, who later dismissed the coach, also took the side of the BFF and said if there is anything to say only club president can say this.
The matter was discussed in Sunday’s meeting of the league committee, which surprisingly went one step further, doubling the punishment recommended by the disciplinary committee.
A member of the disciplinary committee, on condition of anonymity, told New Age on Monday that they recommended only six months’ ban for Maruf and that the one-year suspension also left them surprised.
This was contradictory to the statement made by league committee chairman Abdus Salam Murshedi, who told reporters on Sunday that they were only implementing the recommendations of the disciplinary committee.
Replying to a question whether the ban will be having a detrimental effect on the development of local football, Murshedi, famous for innovating compromise match theory, said: ‘I am not working for anybody’s development, all I need to ensure is discipline.’
A few years ago when Sheikh Jamal was found to be involved in a fixed match against Rahmatganj, Murshedi famously branded it as compromise match and refused to dock the club’s points.
In a similar allegation against Farashganj and Wari, Murshedi’s league committee, however, docked the points of both the clubs in Sunday’s meeting and imposed a heavy fine on them.
Maruf, who is now in the United Kingdom for doing a UEFA pro-licence coaching course, could not be reached for comment on his punishment, but the BFF decision has already raised quite a few eyebrows.
Former national footballer and coach Golam Sarwar Tipu said the BFF took the decision to suppress their own failure.
‘I think the BFF officials took the decision as his comments scalded their skin,’ said Tipu. ‘I am really surprised by the decision. We have very few educated coach in our country. Now if they are insulted this way, hardly anybody will be interested in the profession.’
-With New Age input
