SPORTS REPORTER

A seven-member special committee of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) yesterday began the process of interviewing the 18 rebel footballers who are boycotting the training camp under national women’s team coach Peter Butler, demanding his resignation.

A member of the special committee, who wanted to stay anonymous, said they had interviewed two of the protesting players by yesterday evening to better understand their allegations against the coach and both players told the committee that they had no objection in playing under Butler.

The committee is expected to sit down with all 18 players who have boycotted the training camp which includes many of the top women’s booters of the country like Sabina Khatun, Masura Parvin, Sanjida Akhter, Maria Manda, Monika Chakma, Ritu Porna Chakma and Shamsunahar Sr. The committee is expected to submit a report on the matter by Thursday.

Meanwhile, some 20 players from the Under-20 women’s team joined the national team’s preparation camp yesterday.

Butler had initially called up players from both the senior and the U-20 women’s team for the preparation camp ahead of Bangladesh’s upcoming FIFA friendly matches against hosts the United Arab Emirates, scheduled to take place on February 26 and March 2.

But most players from the U-20 team, many of whom are from Bangladesh Army and BKSP, could not join the training camp in the middle of January due to institutional training. They have now finally joined the camp after the delay.

“As many as 20 players from the Bangladesh U-20 women’s team joined the ongoing camp today [Sunday] and they will be starting training under the coach from tomorrow [Monday],” BFF media manager Sadman Sakib told The Daily Star yesterday.

While 18 of the top national team players continued their boycott for the fifth consecutive day, 13 junior players again showed up to train under the coach at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday and had a gym session after conducting two training sessions.