Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 808 Sun. September 03, 2006  
   
Sports


Booters boycott practice


The national footballers stayed away from practice yesterday to protest Bangladesh Football Federation's (BFF) failure to fulfil their demand of starting the players' transfer for the first-ever Professional Football League (PFL) on schedule.

The Bangladesh team is preparing for the away match of the Asia Cup qualifier against Qatar to be held in Doha on September 6 and they are scheduled to fly out tomorrow.

"We boycotted today's training because the players are really worried about their future following the BFF's continued failure to run the show properly. Now the ball is in BFF's court and we will set our next course of action after seeing what they do. They have to clear everything by tomorrow (Sunday)," said captain Arif Khan Joy.

Joy along with some senior members like Hasan Al Mamun, Aminul Haque, Arman Mia and Alfaz Ahmed talked with newsmen at the BFF Bhaban.

"BFF had assured us that they would start the transfers from September 1 when we went to submit the memorandum last month. What happened though was that they failed to do so. The country's football future is gloomy," Joy added.

When asked whether they would also avoid touring Qatar if BFF failed to fulfil their demand, the midfielder said that they would not tarnish the country's image.

BFF has suspended the much-talked players' transfers as participating clubs kept firm on their stance not to take part in it until they got a written assurance from the game's governing body.