Shers lose 50 per cent of prize money for manhandling umpire

Chandigarh, Mar 6 (UNI) The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has fined Sher-e-Jalandhar for their 'unsportsmanship behaviour' during the third final of the Premier Hockey League (PHL) which they lost 3-4 to Orissa Steelers at the Sector-42 hockey stadium here last night.

The Shers will lose fifty per cent of their prize money of Rs 15 lakh which they received as runners-up of the PHL.

This decision was taken today by IHF chief K P S Gill who took a very serious view of the violent behaviour of the Jalandhar team and their manhandling of umpire Satinder Sharma after he had signalled a goal in favour of the Steelers in the 55th minute of play. The goal which was the fourth for the Steelers proved to be the match winner and saw them lift the title.

The Shers, while protesting the goal, had claimed that they were not ready when the penalty corner push was taken that led to the decisive goal. Some of the Jalandhar players, comprising mostly of Punjab Police players, manhandled Satinder, who was immediately whisked away by security officials.

The TV umpire then came into picture and he ruled in favour of the Steelers. This led to a walkout by the Jalandhar boys and it was only after some persuasion that they again took the field but failed in their bid to get the equaliser.

The Steelers led by Dilip Tirkey, after losing the first final, went onto win the second and in the third high voltage final yesterday edged out the Shers to lift the third PHL title.

Meanwhile, Chandigarh Administrator and Punjab Governor Lt Gen (retd) S F Rodrigues has taken a serious view of the incident and has asked IHF to take strict action against the erring team or players.

According to Chandigarh Director Sports Inderjit Sandhu, the Governor has asked IHF to take necessary steps to prevent the reoccurance of such ugly incidents.

In fact, the on-field behaviour of the Shers has come in for criticism from many players who took part in the third edition of the PHL which was played at Chennai and Chandigarh. Pakistani goalkeeper Salman Akbar who played for the Steelers had yesterday stated that the umpires seemed to be ''afraid of the Jalandhar players, a majority of whom were from the Punjab Police''.

The future of the Shers in the PHL hangs in balance, as the IHF may consider imposing a ban on their participation in the League.

UNI