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Descrimination? ... no way!
09 July 2006 | By:Ahmed Zareer
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Mahibadhoo (Yellow) and Foakaidhoo claims that they face descrimination from Maldives FA
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Male', Maldives - It’s pity to hear the word discrimination in our society, but we are left with no choice but to admit that. Recently we were again hit by this complain from some of our local soccer coaches, not surprisingly both of them are on the helm of two very best island based soccer teams; Mahibadhoo and Foakaidhoo – the two finalists of recently ended Dhiraague Dhivehi League Qualification zone 1-8.
Mahibadhoo won the qualification tournament beating Foakaidhoo in the final and less than four hours time Dhiraagu Dhivehi League 2006 kicked off and the tired two finalists got 24 hours to submit their team list where as, the first division clubs had more than a month to hunt good talents and strengthen their squad.
This is not the first time we heard this story, this is a kind of an old story. Foakaidhoo experienced this situation a year back when they qualified to Dhivehi League as the runners up of zone 1-8 and it was Hiriyaa who shared the story with Foakaidhoo at that time.
According to Lirgam Saeed, Mahibadhoo coach, the islanders were not willing to play in Dhivehi League this time due to this factor. The idea was somewhat very similar back in Foakaidhoo as well.
“The officials, players and even the people of Mahibadhoo did not want to play. But I asked them and advised them to play. They agreed very late and we had to play without much preparation and without our key players” Lirgam said after their first match in Dhivehi League.
Lirqam also urged FAM to have equal considerations with all the teams including 1st division.
“If we are the champions of Dhivehi league even, we would not be in 1st division. So it is huge discrimination for the island teams. So we urge FAM to have equal considerations with all the teams whether 1st division or island teams”
Foakaidhoo coach Nazeeh had a similar point of view for FAM with Lirgam, but FAM is not.
“I don’t agree to it. There won’t be any discrepancies between the 1st division and the Zone teams. Everyone is equal” FAM General Secretary Hussein Rasheed said.
Regarding the transfer issues, Hussain recalled that the problems arose as the transfer regulations were not understood by the officials and the media.
“According to the transfer regulations, the players cannot change in the tournament. If one player plays in the qualification, he has to play the whole tournament (including the league) for that team. They were given to submit a list of 30 players before the qualification”
“We gave the 24 hour period to include 5 more players, as the organizing committee felt the need for it. That’s also to improve those squads”
Hussain also rejected that FAM give priority to 1st division teams.
“Even the 1st division teams have to qualify like the zone finalists. So there would not be any discrepancies there”
You heard both sides, aren’t you? Now the big question would be whether there is any possible way for FAM to arrange the tournaments to avoid these comments from island teams. Since we keep on hearing the same story for a long time I think FAM should consider alternatives to prevent it.
Looking at Dhiraagu Dhivehi League schedule, first round ends in August 1st and the six teams that will qualify to the second round will get a month to prepare, as the second round starts on 1st September. Is it worth for them to get a month to prepare for the second round when some didn’t get five hours to prepare for a different tournament? Can any of zone finalists make their way through to the second round to enjoy the one month ‘preparation break’?
Looking at these factors, we can say there are some possibilities to overcome this problem. We have seen Dhivehi League Qualification zone 1-8. Two matches were played a day; one in the evening and the other in the night. Can FAM arrange the puzzle in such a way that they can manage to end Zone 1-8 qualification almost same time as Zone 9?
Sure they need to think about this more deeply if they want to earn some respect from the islanders and let's hope they will.
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User Comments |
I can't quite digest whats going on. if players like Shinaz and Maasey who featured for Hura during Male' leage can switch sides and play for Valencia in Dhivehi League, why can't other who wishes to play for Mahibadhu from former Hura or Eagles or from any other club (Victory, Newradiant, Valencia) play for Mahibadhu? isn't it the same situation?
According the regulation (as per Mr.Hussain's interpretation), it actually gives way for players who played for Hura or any other team to play in the Dhivehi league with Island teams. I think Hussain is confusing this situation with the situation of players who played for second division coming and playing at Male` league. its different. because players who played for second division teams cannot play for first division teams in Male' league beacuase Second Division is part of Male league. maybe that what Hussain is trying to say. But those players can play in the Dhivehi league because Dhivehi league is another tournament totally different from Male' league or zone league. (quite confusing, isnt it? :)) similarly, the players who played for Male' league can change clubs and play for other teams in Dhivehi league. because its totally a different tournament. what i am trying to say is Zone League, Male' League and Dhivehi League are all 3 different tournaments. - iF-Rey-
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Just to make you aware that this was also faced by the second division finalists as they were even given the period of time to submit their list for Male' league and I should bring to your notice that the second division finalists faced a much worse situation when the both teams were schedule to play the two consecutive games of second division final and Male' league first game after not even a proper twenty four hours of recovery period and why not you question FAM about the international rules between two consecutive games. so its better to believe that we have a huge lacking from our association in organising and generally in functioning as a football association of a country with its 80% of population as soccer maniors.- mohmed Nizam
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