Maharashtra Herald July 6, 2007 BY SUHRID BARUA
Pune: The very spirit of sportsmanship came into question after Friends Union ‘A’ players threatened to stage a walk -out after referee Feroze Shaikh ruled the third goal in favour of Pune Railway Police after Friends Union players protested that Amol Bhosle’s strike sailed wide.Umpire Feroze Shaikh told Herald that the ball indeed went inside the Friends Union goal and tore apart the net before going out. “It was clear that the ball had hit the net inside before sailing out,” he said after the match.The organising committee gave five minutes time to Friends Union to decide on whether to continue with the match or stage a walk-out. Fortunately, better sense prevailed among the Friends Union players. They played with more determination to score again to take the match down to the wire before the cops held out to emerge victorious.Friends Union coach Avinash Shiranpalli, however, downplayed the incident. “These things happen. It’s all part of the game. We have to take such things in our stride,” he said after the match.“They (Friends Union) had the option of playing under protest. We gave them five minutes to take a call, but they chose to continue playing. All is well that ends well,” said R B Makasare, a MHA official.
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