Mohun Bagan stick to their decision demanding a replay of abandoned Tollygunge match

The match was abandoned due to some unavoidable circumstances at the Mohun Bagan ground...

Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan yesterday stuck to their decision demanding a replay of the abandoned Calcutta Football League match against Tollygunge Agragami which had to be called off due to unforeseen circumstances at the Mohun Bagan Ground. Club officials had sent a letter to the Indian Football Association (IFA), the governing body of the sport in West Bengal yesterday after the match demanding a replay of the abandoned tie and they had made it clear that until and unless the IFA schedules a date for the replay the Mariners will play no further part in the remainder of the CFL campaign. But, it is understood the IFA is yet to come to a final decision on the matter as they are awaiting reports from the referee and the match commissioner. It is expected they will reach a final decision after the issue is brought up for discussion before the league sub-committee. IFA secretary, Utpal Ganguly said, ” We have received the letter from Mohun Bagan. We still have a couple of days in hand before the next Bagan match. As soon as we receive the referee's report, we will call a meeting of the league sub-committee. But in the letter they never mentioned about withdrawing themselves from the remaining part of the CFL.” CRA secretary, Chitta Das Majumdar said, “We are mailing a letter to the IFA which will have the referee's as well as match commissioner's report. I have personally seen the video footage. It is clearly visible that all the three goals which were disallowed are clearly off-side and we have no doubt about that.” On the other hand, Tollygunge officials say they will not play in a replay. They are also writing a letter to the IFA mentioning the same. Tollygunge secretary Subhankar Ghosh Dastidar said in this regard, "“We will not play the replay under any circumstances.” it will also be interesting to see what stance Bagan's arch-rivals East Bengal take on the subject. At the moment they have taken silence as golden, but have made it clear that they will not play the Kolkata derby if the game is postponed further as they will have to release their Indian Super League players after 7th September. If Tollygunge refuse to participate in any future replay of the match than Bagan will be awarded the three points by forfeit which will be a huge boost for them ahead of the derby as they will reduce the deficit on table-toppers EB.