AG Mills walk out of football event over ‘wrong decision’

KARACHI: The First Naya Nazimabad Departmental Football tournament on Sunday received a heavy jolt when Bahawalpur’s Asia Ghee Mills refused to continue the game against Karachi Port Trust (KPT) after referee awarded a penalty in the first half against them here at the KMC Stadium.
The match could not be completed and KPT were declared winners by the technical committee which also waived off Asia Ghee Mills’ next game which they had to play against Ashraf Sugar Mills on November 29.
Asia Ghee Mills, owned by Senator Chaudhry Saud Majeed, who is also the chairman of Senate Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC), left for Bahawalpur via train on Sunday night.
“Yes, we are going back,” Asia Ghee Mills manager Arshad told ‘The News’ from the train.This correspondent learnt that when in the 22nd minute referee Lal Mohammad awarded a penalty to KPT, Asia Ghee Mills walked out of the pitch in protest and decided not to return.
“It was a clear-cut penalty as KPT’s striker Mohammad had been pulled from behind in the area,” a match official told ‘The News’.But Asia Ghee Mills manager Arshad had different views. “A wrong penalty was given and even the crowd saw that,” Arshad said.
“The real issue was when the referee gave the penalty against us our captain went to the referee and told him that his decision was wrong, the referee showed him yellow card. Then another player went to the referee and told him that it was a wrong decision and the referee showed him red card. That infuriated us,” Arshad said.
“Nasir Ismail and the event organiser Ahmed Jan told me to resume the play but how could we? The matter went to the technical committee and it gave three points to KPT and our next outing was also scratched,” Arshad said.
“We are really unhappy. We had come here on a single phone call from the organisers. We had already told the organisers that the referees of Karachi favour the local teams and the same thing happened. There was no rush, it was a neutral ball before it was gathered by the gloveman. There was no room for awarding any penalty,” Arshad claimed.
A source told this correspondent that after the penalty was given, Asia Ghee Mills players used foul language against the referee.Earlier, the match between Ashraf Sugar Mills and Karachi United ended in a 1-1 draw. Abdul Razzaq put ASM on the front foot through a fine header on a minus cross in the 47th minute. Raheem levelled the score for KU in the 78th minute.On Monday (today), Sindh Government Press face Chaman’s Muslim Trading.