Horrific scenes ensured when Keteriyans SC and their fans assaulted travelling Colombo FC in the Cargills Food City FA Cup last 32 knockout match played at the BTS Grounds Dhadella, Galle.
The incident happened deep into injury time with Colombo FC leading 1-0. A Colombo FC player was fouled near the penalty box and the Keteriyans player had kicked the fallen player on the head which had sparked outrage from the Colombo FC players who had complained the referee. Instantaneously the rest of the Keteriyans players started assaulting the Colombo FC players and the fans had also invaded the pitch and joined in the assault.
“It was a dirty match. There were cheap shots on our players (Colombo FC) throughout the match. However we took the lead in the 88th minute and with a minute left this incident happened. We were surrounded and nowhere to go. Got assaulted with chairs and what not,” Colombo FC coach Mohomed Roomy told exclusively with ThePapare.com.
“Nobody got serious injuries but was beaten badly. Thankfully some other people from the village came and rescued us. If not we wouldn’t have left that place in one piece. We put a complaint to the Police and got escorted to the Highway.” He added.
Keteriyans SC also playing in the Premier League Division I Tournament recently qualified for the quarter finals of the tournament and this was the first time in their history they have qualified for the FA Cup last 32. In recent times there has been a few incidents like this which happened in the local football arena and still the Football Federation hasn’t taken steps to prevent such sad incidents from happening.
“Normally there should be Police, security at the match. But there wasn’t any. The referee was pressurized; sometimes he ignored fouls on our players. You cannot blame the referee doing his duty in this kind of environment but if you know there wasn’t enough protection he shouldn’t have started the match.” Roomy further added.
ThePapare.com contacted a high ranking official in the Football Federation of Sri Lanka and he said that it is an unfortunate incident and that they will take stern and swift actions against the culprits after gathering the match report from the match commissioner.
