Referee should have sent off Elano; FC Goa deserved to win: AIFF vice-president
All India Football Federation (AIFF) vice-president, and co-owner of FC Goa, Shrinivas Dempo on Tuesday explained why FC Goa boycotted the awards ceremony after the final of the Indian Super League (ISL).
Officials of FC Goa, including Shrinivas Dempo felt that Dattaraj Salgaocar was being targeted unnecessarily, and any man would fight back for his self-respect. “There was a lot of chaos. I expected each of the four or five of us to be escorted to the pitch by representatives. We were disappointed when some people were allowed to go and not us. We pushed our way through because we wanted to meet Zico. Why I did not take any action is because I gave them the benefit of doubt; whereas Mr Salgaocar was individually targeted. Any person in such a situation would do the same for his self-respect,” explained Dempo to Goal.com.
FC Goa officials also pleaded the match officials to send off Elano Blumer, after he elbowed Salgaocar, who is the co-owner of FC Goa. But their request fell on deaf ears, and hence they took the drastic step of not attending the ceremony. “We took a conscious decision to boycott the ceremony only after pleading to the officials to red card Elano, send him out of the stadium and not let him collect his medal. That was a minimum. Making an official complaint against him means nothing to us because it is the last game and he is going away; He might not come to India next year,” he said.
Dempo also made a point that the ruckus would not have happened if the officials had taken the call to send off Elano. “We have experience for 50 years in football; have you heard Mr. Salgaocar or Mr. Dempo making a ruckus? Why would we do it at FC Goa then? Once we knew we had lost, we would have gone with our heads held high and received the medals if two things would have happened. Firstly, if Elano would have apologized to Mr Salgaocar saying it was his fault and then if the officials would have taken action by sending him off,” he reasoned.
The vice-president also said that he regrets the incident, and state their commitment of improving football in India remains undeterred.“Whatever has happened has to be regretted. The organizers within their rules look into it. Whatever happens we will have to evaluate and look into it. But as we said, this team is very serious; this franchise is very serious to the development of football in the country. We have a great set of fans,” he added.
He also congratulated the Chennayin FC team, but added that his team were the better side and they deserved to win. “I would like to congratulate Chennaiyin FC on winning the title. They, also like us had their tough times. Having said this, we deserved to win. The kind of football we displayed has attracted Goa in many numbers. We hope that we live up to the expectations in the third edition of the ISL. I would also like to thank the government of Goa. If you (journalists) had not given us enough exposure the world would not have known about what magic Zico has done,” Dempo said.
