Mohun Bagan captain Odafa Okolie got the backing of former Mohun Bagan player Chima Okorie in light of recent events.
Today is the last day for Odafa to answer the show-cause letter, sent to him by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). According to the latest rumour, in his answer letter, Odafa has asked the federation why he should be punished as he sees no reason to be. The verdict will be delivered in the AIFF’s core committee meeting, which is to be held on January 15.
While answering to a Bengali daily ‘Anandabazar Patrika’, the former ‘Black Leopard’ (the name his fans used to call him during his playing days) he said, “I heard a lot about Odafa’s possible punishment. But do you know what he actually did?”
According to Chima, on December 9, the referee took the wrong decision of giving Odafa a red card. He shared his thoughts on this issue on a social networking site by saying, “Is it possible to challenge the report of referee? How can we know what talk is going between the players and referee?? How much we believe referee?”
“If a speaker can be attached with the dress of the referee then every spectator will know what is going into the field”, he added. Rumour has it that, in reality Chima is the official agent of Odafa and that’s why Chima has come forward.
After Chima’s reaction on this matter, the president of AIFF’s board of referee Goutam Kar told, “Anyone can share his thoughts in the social networking site. But according to the rules of FIFA and AFC the reports of referee and match commissioner are final.”