East Bengal and Bengaluru FC take on each other at the Sree Kanteerava stadium as 2nd vs 3rd clash in the I-League fixture that could very well decide the league title. However, the Kanteerava pitch has already witnessed the competitive nature of the two teams, as officials of the clubs were involved in a spat ahead of the game tonight.
East Bengal had been scheduled to train on Saturday morning at the Kanteerava stadium at 10 am, according to Bengaluru FC club officials, but showed up ahead of time at 9am. This resulted in the incident that could potentially stoke the fires ahead of an already decisive clash, with a BFC staff member allegedly abusing East Bengal team manager and club legend Alvito D’Cunha and Bernard Mendy.
Speaking to Goal, Alvito recounted the incident, saying “First the bus that was supposed to pick us up didn't arrive. I tried calling the local manager who didn't pick my call. So, I told the boys to walk to the ground from the hotel which we eventually did. And we reached the venue by 9 a.m.They would not let us start our practice then.”
“An official of the club came to us and told me to 'f**k off'. He was the manager of the national team sometime back and he knew Arnab (Mondal). He told Arnab to stay away from the field and told (Bernard) Mendy to not step in the pitch. All of us were abused. Later a few other officials of the club came and they co-operated and we finally got going at 9:30”
When contacted by Sportskeeda, Mandar Tamhane, CTO of Bengaluru FC, acknowledged that a ‘spat’ had taken place, but reiterated that East Bengal did not have permission to use the Kanteerava pitch until 10, saying “Everything is communicated in black and white; we have it on record. East Bengal were scheduled to train at 10am, but arrived ahead of time.”
Tamhane also stressed that according to AIFF rules, all communication between teams should take place between the LGC (Local Game Commissioner) and LMO (Local Media Officer) of the two clubs, thus noting that if East Bengal did get permission to train at 9am, as they claimed, there is no record of it in any email.
However, the matter seems to have been put aside for now, as when Alvito D’Cunha was contacted by Sportskeeda, the former Indian national team midfielder replied “What’s happened has happened. Now is not the time to speak about these things. We’d like to put it aside and focus on the game.”
