The ongoing crisis in hockey took a new turn on Monday after the national players resumed their boycott of Asia Cup camp demanding the inter-club player transfers and
action against a former player who threatened a senior player.
The players had earlier given the state minister for youth and sports, Ahad Ali Sarker, a deadline of August 2 to end to the crisis but did not wait that long after a new drama unfolded in the hockey arena involving striker Jimmy and Abahani hockey official Shahidullah Dolon.
Dolon recently sent an SMS to Jimmy threatening him of dire consequences if he continued to support the newly elected committee that took the charge of the federation earlier this month.
Dolon, identified by different law enforcement agencies as the culprit, confessed his guilt and publicly apologised to the player, his family and others affected by the disturbing news, at a press conference on Monday.
The players, however, did not accept the apology and demanded an action within 24 hours against Dolon. The players attended a routine physical session in the morning but boycotted a warm-up match to press for their demand.
Some leaders of the Hockey Players’ Welfare Association were so much enraged that at one stage they behaved roughly with the national hockey team’s Pakistani coach, Naveed Alam, who was briefing the players from the services teams and BKSP.
Association leader Russell Khan Bappi and general secretary Ariful Hoque Prince allegedly stormed into the dining room, where the briefing was being held, and fell foul with the coach accusing him of trying to break the unity of the players.
Bappi and Prince earlier insisted that the players boycott the camp.
`Prince bhai told us not to join the camp and said
if we ignore their call they will not take any responsibility of anything unexpected happens,’ said a star player, who requested not to be named.
`We skipped the training to avoid any unwanted situation on the turf,’ he added.
Meanwhile, coach Naveed alleged that a players’ association leader tried to hit him with a chair during his briefing.
`When I was trying to convince the players to join the camp they entered into the dining room and threatened the players and me. One of them tried to throw a chair at me,’ said Naveed.
`I was surprised when they identified themselves as the officials of Hockey Players’ Welfare Association. I did not see any welfare attitude in them,’ said Naveed.
Bappy and Prince could not be reached for comments.
‘The BHF governing body called an emergency meeting tomorrow [today] to discuss the whole situation,’ said general secretary Khaja Rahmatullah.
`Boycotting the camp is like going against the nation. We will discuss about the current situation in tomorrow’s meeting,’ said Rahmatullah.
The BHF has to submit the 18-member final squad to the Asian Hockey Federation by July 31 for participation in the Asia Cup.
-With New Age input
