On Monday, at a hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) newly appointed director Asif Akbar made explosive remarks about footballers.
Asif claimed that one of the main reasons district-level cricketers don’t get enough access to fields is because football has taken over most of the grounds. He also commented that footballers’ behavior is “very bad.” His remarks sparked outrage across the football community, with many current and former footballers demanding that he apologize. However, Asif has stood firm by his statement.
On the second day of the conference (Monday, November 10), Asif said,
“Our footballer brothers got a bit angry with me yesterday. But I’m not angry. Let’s debate. I want this issue to be discussed openly. I just asked for a field — we haven’t been given one for the last 26–27 years.”
He continued,
“Football is our game too. Both of my sons are footballers. Football is our game, cricket is our game, hockey is our game. Then why are we being discriminated against at the grassroots level? Why are the gates of our stadiums being locked on us?”
Promising to prepare wickets if they get access to fields, Asif said,
“If we see that we’re not getting grounds, I’ll keep pushing for discussion — we must get our grounds. You tell us specifically when football season will end, and then we’ll take the field.”
Reaffirming that his earlier comments were justified, Asif said,
“What I said yesterday was absolutely correct. Those in football who are angry — I can prove what I said. But I don’t want to say it here. And I actually want them to be angry — let them be angry and give us the field so we can play.”
