Eight clubs of Bhaktapur on Thursday alleged Bhaktapur Football Association for intentionally barring them from competing in the District Football League.

The league was originally scheduled to kick off on July 11 but has not yet started due to the recent heavy rainfall that has left Maheshwore football grounds unplayable. The disgruntled clubs said they would seek legal actions against the Bhaktapur FA if they are barred from the competition.

"We had completed all due procedures to compete in the league but the FA did not accept our registration forms," said Ram Prajapati, president of Bhaktapur Football Club. Apart from Bhaktapur Football Club, Satyanarayan Football Club, Divyashwari Youth Society, Khwapa Football Club, Newalaya Football Club, Thimi Youth Club, Khwapri Football Club and The Best Team made such claims at a joint press conference in Kathmandu on Thursday.

"We had furnished all the documents sought by the District FA. We had submitted a copy of our club's registration which is either at the District Administration Office or at the District Sports Development Committee office. We also had a copy of PAN registration and our statutes attached with our documents. They even charged us Rs 150 for a registration form but then did not accept our form in the end," said Prajapati. Prajapati also said they had complained about the matter at the All Nepal Football Association. Prajapati claimed that six of the 10 clubs registered for league so far were not even registered either at the District Sports Development Committee or District Administration Office.

The district FA had set June 25 as the final day for the clubs' registration to participate in the league. The agitating clubs claim that they had gone to the office before deadline to register for the league. Bhaktapur FA President Gautam Sujakhu, however, refuted the claims saying the group had ill intention of disrupting the league more than anything else.

"Four teams had arrived on the deadline day and we did accept their registration forms. But they left without paying Rs 10,000 as registration fees. We were scheduled to draw tiesheet on July 7 at 10am. We made phone calls to representatives of all four clubs to come for the draw with registration fees. We waited until 4pm but no one showed up and we finally drew the tiesheet excluding the concerned teams," said Sujhaku. Sujhaku said he had accepted the application in the presence of ANFA’s central representative Sanjeev Mishra and deputy General Secretary Arun Man Joshi. Mishra and Joshi were sent to Bhaktapur by ANFA to sort out the dispute.

Sujhaku said the league was supposed to start on July 11 but had to be postponed due to heavy rainfall. "We could not hold the tournament as per schedule due to heavy rainfall and water-logged ground," said the Bhaktapur FA president who blamed one of the ANFA executive committee members behind the plot to disrupt the league. Sujhaku, however, declined to name the individual.

ANFA representative Mishra validated Sujhaku's claims. "The District FA had accepted the forms of four clubs in my presence. But they did not pay the registration fees until the last moment and so were excluded from the tiesheet draw," said Mishra.

Sujakhu said his FA would take necessary steps if the agitating clubs move the court. "Going to court for footballing reasons won’t help anyone. I strongly believe that some cunning individuals are behind all this. But we will not be deterred by such distractions. We are committed towards the development of football," said Sujakhu. 

What do you think?

Dear reader, we’d like to hear from you. We regularly publish letters to the editor on contemporary issues or direct responses to something the Post has recently published. Please send your letters to [email protected] with "Letter to the Editor" in the subject line. Please include your name, location, and a contact address so one of our editors can reach out to you.