In the round 20 I-League match between Churchill Brothers and Shillong Lajong, the owner of the north eastern club was asked to leave the bench by the fourth official, Balasubramanian after the kick-off.
This was after Larsing Sawyan was questioned as to whether he had the identification card necessary to sit on the bench, to which he answered in the negative.
According to the rules set up by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), each team is allowed to register a maximum of five people on the bench including the coach, assistant coach, physiotherapist, goalkeeper coach and the team manager.
Also it’s the duty of the fourth official and the match commissioner to check whether the officials do have their identification card when they go to the respective team rooms prior to the kick-off.
It wasn’t the first occasion when Larsing sat in the technical area for Shillong Lajong, which was confirmed by the man himself. He also, in a gentlemanly behaviour, accepted his fault of not being in the knowledge of the rule.
“I wasn’t aware of the rule. I did sit on the bench in our matches at the Salt Lake and the Cooperage but there were no problems as such. However, rules are rules and hence, I walked off when I was made aware,” informed Larsing to Goal.com.
What it suggests that the it’s the fourth official and the match commissioner who aren’t doing their duty as even in the official team list provided to the media, it was Larsing who had signed off as the team manager.
Even in the game on Sunday, it wasn’t that the fourth official was smart enough to check the document but was intimated by the Goa Football Association (GFA).
“We had received several complaints from Goan clubs stating that Larsing is not a registered official and has been sitting on the bench. We were shocked to see the same and brought it to the notice of the fourth official,” said GFA secretary, Savio Messias.
It’s time that the fourth officials and the match commissioner keep a tab of who is sitting on the bench else they will have to be enlightened on their job as in the above case.
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