I-League, Real Kashmir FC vs Gokulam Kerala FC: There has been a lot of controversy before the I-League match between Gokulam Kerala FC and Real Kashmir FC scheduled to be played on Saturday at Kozhikode.
Real Kashmir FC have complained about the lack of facilities provided to them and alleged that their officials, including head coach David Robertson, was abused by local club officials. On the other hand, Gokulam Kerala have accused the visiting team officials of abusing local staff and "manhandling GKFC's LGC".
It all started when Real Kashmir official handle tweeted their unhappiness over the arrangements and behaviour of host club officials and ground staff. They tweeted that hosts GKFC failed to provide them transport to the training ground and their officials, including head coach David Robertson, was abused by local club officials and asked to leave the ground.
"SHAME! RKFC officials including head coach David Robertson abused by @GokulamKeralaFC officials. No bus for training. No training ground. Matter reported to @ILeagueOfficial. But no way to treat guests. And they call it god’s own country," Real Kashmir FC tweeted.
The Real Kashmir FC twitter handle also posted videos of the players training on patchy ground at the side of the EMS Stadium. It also posted another video of RKFC officials apparently being asked to leave the premises by local club officials.
However, the first team manager of GKFC Rajah Rizwan hit back at the visitors with a tweet of his own saying the Real Kashmir coach David Robertson had abused and threatened local staff.
"Maybe Real Kashmir admin is not man enough to post the actual thing which is their head coach david robertson showing his real culture by calling our 62 year old LGC “fucking asshole bastard”. And followed by threaten “come to kashmir we will show what is really happening there," Rizwan tweeted.
According to Rizwan, the bus to the training ground arrived late because of a political. He also said that Real Kashmir FC contingent entered the EMS Stadium without permission and started to practice at a warm up area next to the main pitch.
This led to the ground staff protesting them, which led to an exchange of heated words. Rizwan further alleged that the Real Kashmir staff had "manhandled GKFC's LGC" and stopped a groundsman from taking video of the incident.
The Gokulam Kerala FC twitter handle also posted a series of tweets explaining their take on the situation.
The controversy even got the notice of former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah who also tweeted about the issue.
Gokulam Kerala FC and Real Kashmir FC are set to face each other on December 15. The Kashmir side are currently third on the I-League table with 13 points from 7 matches while Gokulam Kerala have 9 points from 7 games so far.
