Sports lovers fume over Aug 13 incident, call it "disgraceful"
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 16 2024: Sports lovers have taken strong exceptions against the August 13 incident at football turf ground, Lamlong Thongkhong.

Speaking to The Sangai Express, some sports lovers said that the incident on Patriots' day was very "ill-suited and disgraceful" .

It is a day on which all people of the State mourn and recall the sacrifices of the heroes who fought against the British for the sovereignty of Manipur in the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891.Paying tributes to the war heroes has been an annual affair for the people of Manipur, but the musical concert on the solemn day that went awry, has brought shame to the society and is condemnable in the strongest terms, they observed.

What is more saddening is that the event was organised by the All Manipur Football Association with Mami TV Network as media partner, they said while asking how come such an apex body of sports be a part of the event.

They also asked whether the association is functioning as per its constitution or was the event organised in the interest of few members.

They further asked whether the event was approved by the executive council of the association and what sort of actions would be taken up if the event was organised in the interest of few members.

Whatever may be the case, the executive council should come forward and clarify the matter to the public at the earliest, they said.

Notably, the office bearers of the association was elected for the 2019-23 term in 2019 with Tonjam Ratankumar as the Returning Officer to the election of the office bearers.

Besides irregularities in the "assignment of members", their term ended last year in August and it is still unclear whether the process for election of new office bearers has been initiated.

Not only this, the association has been marred by unwanted incidents and controversies in the past 5 years including allotment of media rights for coverage of a prestigious football tournament to a select media house, biased recommendation of a team for I-League 2 and irregularities in State team selection.

Those involved in desecrating the solemn and historic day as well as the sacred place of footballers should be awarded befitting punishment to make sure that such incidents do not repeat.

Those individuals from the association involved in organising the event should be barred indefinitely from holding any post in sports associations of the State, they continued.

Meanwhile teams participating in the Manipur Premier League and Manipur State League have also come out strongly against the incident.

MPL, MSL teams decry

In a press note, teams participating in the top tier tournaments strongly condemned the incident and said it was an unthoughtful act for AMFA to allow the event on a football field.

People in the football fraternity consider the ground as a sacred place and pray and bow every time before entering the field, it said.

The ugly incident on a very auspicious day on which fitting tributes are offered to the fallen heroes of Manipur is uncalled for, it said while urging authorities concerned to take necessary action against those involved in organising such an event.

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