Calcutta Football League: East Bengal appeals for postponement, IFA says match is on
East Bengal has said its coach won't be available for the October 3 CFL tie against Calcutta Customs and sought a postponement, but the IFA refused to budge.
Published : Oct 02, 2019 21:30 IST
The ‘replay’ of the abandoned Calcutta Football League (CFL) match between East Bengal and Calcutta Customs Club has run into fresh trouble with the former requesting for a new date citing unavailability of its coach as the reason.
The governing body of football in the state and the organiser of the League – Indian Football Association (IFA) – is not willing to budge and has decided to go ahead with the match, which is scheduled at Kalyani Stadium on Thursday for a 2:30 pm kick-off.
“We have made full arrangements and are going ahead with the match as scheduled at Kalyani Stadium. It is now East Bengal’s decision to turn out for the match,” said IFA secretary, Joydeep Mukherjee.
“We have received a letter from the investor of East Bengal and the club requesting a postponement of the match owing to the unavailability of their coach (Alejandro Menendez) but we are sticking to the original schedule,” he added.
Mukherjee said the IFA will be taking the next decision based on the referee’s report in case the match does not happen. “In the situation of the match falling through we will forward the referee’s report to the CFL (tournament) committee, which will advise us on the next move,” he said. In such a situation, Peerless SC, which is currently leading the standings with 23 points from 11 matches, will have to stall its celebrations of a maiden CFL triumph for over 10 days as the IFA goes into festive holidays from Friday.
East Bengal, the 39-time champion, is on the third spot on the CFL table with 20 points from 10 outings and needs to win its last match against Calcutta Customs Club by a margin seven goals or more to take home the title.