The quarter-final match of the National Football Championship at the Barisal venue took an unexpected turn when tensions flared between players and fans during the encounter between Jessore and Bagerhat. What began as a tightly contested match ended in chaos, with Bagerhat leaving the field before the final whistle following a heated altercation.
Heated Moments at Barisal Venue
Jessore were leading by one goal when the game descended into disorder about ten minutes before full time. A clash between players and fans broke out, forcing the Bagerhat team to abandon the match. According to reports, the referee was also insulted and attacked verbally amid the commotion.
BFF (Bangladesh Football Federation) officials confirmed that the results of the other three quarter-final matches were released, but the Jessore-Bagerhat outcome remains unresolved.
Wahid Uddin Chowdhury, Chairman of the National Football Championship Committee and BFF Vice-President, stated,
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔.”
Coaches and Officials Share Conflicting Views
Jessore head coach Azizul Islam Shukur expressed disappointment over the disruption, claiming his team had no involvement in the incident.
“𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒆. 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒖𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒐𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.
However, Bagerhat officials painted a different picture. Zakir Hossain Chowdhury, BFF executive committee member and president of the Bagerhat District Football Association, claimed the refereeing was biased.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒔. 𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑩𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒍,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒅.
Refereeing Controversy and Other Match Results
The decision to appoint a Jessore-based referee for a Jessore match sparked criticism. Responding to the controversy, BFF Vice-President Wahid Uddin Chowdhury defended the choice, saying,
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝑭𝑰𝑭𝑨-𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔.”
Meanwhile, the other quarter-final matches proceeded without incident:
- Chittagong defeated Comilla 2-1 in Noakhali.
- Sirajganj beat Narsingdi 3-0 in Gazipur.
- Dinajpur edged Bogra 1-0 in Nilphamari.
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