The transparency of the country’s top-tier football league, Bangladesh Premier League, was paled away when some prominent outfits of the country raised questions over local referees and their various controversial decisions in the ongoing season.

The situation heated up when Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra Ltd raised questions on the qualities of local referees after their last match of round nine against Bangladesh Police Football Club in Rajshahi on Friday. 

The referee Bitu Raj’s controversial penalty decision in the favour of Police forced Sheikh Russel to play a 1-1 draw in their must-win match. Though the club lodged a complaint against this injustice, the federation seemed reluctant to take any decision on it. Besides, some clubs and a bunch of football fans have been raising their fingers on the local referees’ qualities since the beginning of the BPL season.
The federation talked about two possible ways -- Virtual Assistant Referee and foreign referees -- to avoid controversies in BPL but they never went through those ways practically as both were highly expensive and even would far exceed the league’s budget.

BFF senior vice-president and Professional Football League Committee Chairman Abdus Salam Murshedy, MP also accepted that the federation has financial limitations for appointing foreign referees.

“The federation is still working on appointing foreign referees. We have financial limitations, also most of the countries are not interested in sending their referees due to Covid; so we need some more time before making final decisions,” Murshedy said.

“We have enough time before the next rounds (BPL); by this time we will talk with clubs and know their opinions. I personally don’t prefer foreign referees but if clubs, officials and the federation agree on it, we must arrange it,” he concluded.

BDST: 2307 HRS, MAR 21, 2022
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