Overheard at the stadium

KATHMANDU, Aug 5: "We are not playing chess. This is football and we are playing on a big stage in front of a huge crowd. You can´t understand the pressure one feels playing here (at the Dasharath Stadium)," Rishi Thapa Magar, who hails from Hetauda, telling a football fan after the match against Bangladesh when the latter tried to explain that a player needs to maintain discipline while playing football.



"Well played dai. That was a dangerous shot," a young player of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) Academy telling his senior Rungrihang Rai who was playing against Bangladesh on Thursday. [break]



Rai had manhandled Bangladeshi player Md Emon during the stoppage time of the match.



The above mentioned dialogue was overheard at Dasharath Stadium after completion of the match against Bangladesh during the SAFF U-16 Championship Football Tournament which turned out to be one of the ugliest matches played at the stadium. Thursday´s match saw seven cards including a red and six yellow cards.



Discipline is a must in any game and football is no exception. "My game is fair play," is the slogan of FIFA, the supreme football governing body of the world. But the slogan of FIFA and discipline was not maintained in the match on Thursday.



More importantly, the age group tournaments are regarded an opportunityi to build a team and coaches of almost all the teams participating in the U-16 tournament have taken the event as a warm up for AFC U-16 Championship Qualifiers to be held later.



Though the players of squad knew that losing temper could cost the national side dearly they all forgot that in the field. However, the referee did not feel it necessary to show red card to Rai.



"The Bangladesh team had come up with the strategy of provoking our players. So I don´t think Rai committed a serious offense," coach Sunil Shrestha defended Rai during the post match conference.



Not only Rai a majority of players of the Nepali squad were time and again seen violating the rules of the game. They were involved in a clash twice though the referees and officials easily handled the situation.



Such attitudes of players would surely be a setback for ANFA in the long run which is committed to developing football.



Other than Suman Lama of the current U-16 squad, all the players have been selected and recruited by ANFA Academy when they were 12. Currently there are 59 players in the academy including those in U-13, U-14 and U-16. ANFA has taken the responsibility of players´ health, education and accommodation.



But the conduct of players on and off the field did not seem that they have been given proper etiquette training. ANFA having taken the responsibility of Academy players must be resposible for their conduct.

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