Almost a year ago, the Bengaluru FC-Mumbai FC I-league fixture at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium was a scene of acrimony. A bottle was thrown in the direction of Mumbai FC coach Khalid Jamil, its player Amoes ran into the stands to confront a section of the fans and it was allegations and counter-allegations galore.
In the time since then, tempers have cooled and, on Friday, both Bengaluru coach Ashley Westwood and Mumbai assistant coach Henry Picardo played down the fracas even as they maintained that fans’ hostility sans physical abuse was perfectly acceptable.
“I don’t see that as a problem,” said Picardo. “This is what football is all about. There have to be rivalries between clubs and their fans. They faced it [hostility] in Mumbai and now we are here and we will accept it as part and parcel of the game.”
To a pointed query on coins being thrown by Bengaluru fans and the opponents’ complaints going unheard, Westwood said that he didn’t know of any such incident.
“I am not sure our fans are rich enough to throw the money away,” he said. “If they are, I’ll have a piece of that. I ever only saw an empty bottle. That was an unfortunate incident. They [fans] straightaway came to apologise. We apologised as a club.”
“Get behind the team. Shout as loud as you want. But behave yourselves. Fierce hostility as long as it’s in good spirit is ok. If you go to Galatasaray, West Ham, or Leeds, fans get involved aggressively behind the sides.
“There is never anything physical, there is never an issue. Our fans are well-behaved and have served us well.
“So for me, they can just carry on doing what they have and we will do whatever we can [on the pitch].”
| StandingsINDIA: I-League | ||||||||
| 08:00 | Finished | Salgaocar SC | 1 - 1 | DSK Shivaians | ||||
| 10:35 | Finished | Lajong | 3 - 1 | Aizawl | ||||
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