Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com
SAFF women’s Championship 2024 winning Bangladesh national team forward Matsushima Sumaya on Tuesday claimed to have received death and rape threats, amid their boycott of training under English coach Peter Butler.
‘Over the past few days, I have received countless death and rape threats—words that have shattered me in ways I never imagined,’ Sumaya stated on her verified Facebook page.
Sumaya is one of the signatories among the 18 senior players who refused to train under Butler ahead of Bangladesh’s FIFA international friendlies against hosts UAE on February 26 and March 2.
She wrote a letter in English on behalf of her team-mates to Bangladesh Football Federation president Tabith Awal, who is now in London, about their demands and termination of the Englishman.
Following that, the players placed a seven-point demand before the press on January 30, and then BFF formed a seven-member committee, led by BFF senior vice-president Imrul Hasan, to investigate the issue.
Sumaya received the death threat after the revelation of the letter to the BFF, in her statement, she stated, ‘My name is Matsushima Sumaya. I am a player of the Bangladesh Women’s National Football Team. Starting from playing in Inter schools being an English Medium Student to playing and winning leagues in Maldives to winning SAFF Women’s Football Championship 2024 for Bangladesh, the journey has been bittersweet to me.’
‘Ever since I chose this path, my dream was to inspire young students whose parents only wanted them to focus on studies. I wanted to show that passion and dedication can break barriers. But today, I sit here with regret—regret for sacrificing my education, my family, my Eids, all to serve a country that doesn’t know how to appreciate our struggles,’ she continued.
‘I fought with my parents to pursue football, believing that my country would stand by me. But the reality is different. Nobody truly cares about an athlete’s mental health. I do have the minimum ability to write a letter in English for me and teammates about the situations we have gone through…I don’t know how long it will take for me to heal from this trauma, but I do know that no one should have to go through this just for following their dreams,’ she concluded.
The 23-year-old made her national team debut with the two-match friendlies against Nepal in Dhaka in July 2023 and appeared in seven international games.
