The Hindu : Sport / Football : Chirag United holds East Bengal

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Sunday, Aug 26, 2007
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Chirag United holds East Bengal

KOLKATA: Holder Kingfisher East Bengal lost crucial points as it played out a 1-1 draw with Chirag United in a premier division encounter of the Calcutta Football League at its home ground here on Saturday.

Chirag United went into the lead in the 13th minute when Sasthi Duley, who had turned out for East Bengal in the last few seasons, found the target through a solo effort.

Equaliser

East Bengal secured the equaliser in the very next minute through its TFA recruit Vimal Periyar.

Both teams earned scoring opportunities thereafter, but the scoreline remained unchanged as none could find the target.

The match was also notable for having the supervision done by an outstation referee, K. Shankar from Tamil Nadu. With the local referees getting branded as biased by many of the participants, the organiser, Indian Football Association, agreed to assign outstation referees in matches featuring the three major side of the city — East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting.

East Bengal, which had lost 3-4 to traditional rival Mohun Bagan last week, conceded a further deficit of two points and finished the first leg of the two tier eight-team tournament on 16 points from seven matches.

Mohun Bagan, which plays its last match Mohammedan Sporting on Sunday, is also on 16 points.

Call for boycott

The CFL was hurled into a new controversy as the Calcutta Referees Association (CRA) called for a boycott of one of the oldest soccer leagues in the world.

The representative body of the city referees, who have been supervising matches in all the seven division of CFL including the premier and super divisions, have taken this decision protesting against IFA’s (Indian Football Association) decision to have outstation referees. — Principal Correspondent

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