Coaches slam poor pitches

By Our Bureau | www.telegraphindia.com – Sun 23 Sep, 2012

New Delhi/ Jamshedpur: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Saturday tried its best to cover up for its inability to provide good grounds for the Federation Cup matches in Jamshedpur, but several top coaches continued to slam the parent body saying they were being forced to play on "unplayable" pitches.

AIFF, in a press release, said that Arthur Papas, the coach of Pailan Arrows, never threaten to pull out of the next match and the federation's developmental side would definitely take the field against Lajong FC on Sunday.

However, the fact remains that Papas, who refused to field his team on Friday against Mumbai FC before being persuaded by senior AIFF officials to play the match, indicated he was in no mood to play the concluding encounter of the group league.

"I will talk to the club chairman and decide whether to continue or not. I am concerned about my boys," Papas said when asked whether he was ready to play in such conditions again.

But then, Papas is not the only one to protest. Prayag United coach Sanjay Sen said: "The ground conditions are pathetic and unplayable. Three of my players got injured today against Pune FC because of the turf."

Lajong coach Desmond Bulpin said the venues were bad advertisement for football. "Instead of Jamshedpur, AIFF should have conducted the matches at Bangalore or Meghalaya. Both places have artificial pitches."

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