By Shazia Hasan [Dawn]
KARACHI: While snubbing the referees and other match officials, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) finally handed over some 288 young participants of the KESC Lyari Football League their dues in a small ceremony held at the Football House in Lyari here on Saturday.
It was discovered on January 24, the conclusion of the U-14 competition, that all the envelopes — said to contain Rs 90,000 each — given away to the 16 participating teams along with the winners` cheques and individual prizes were found empty.
But the PFF said that they would be paying the participants later through bank drafts made out in the name of their fathers or guardians, which they finally did after a wait of 41 days.
The 18 players of each of the 16 teams were presented with Rs5,000 each, amounting to Rs90,000 for every team. In addition, league winners Lyari Town pocketed Rs100,000, runners-up Singolane and third-position team Bihar Colony picked up Rs50,000 and Rs25,000 respectively.
Lyari Town`s captain Munir Aftab (Player of the Tournament), Singolane`s striker Idrees Rehman (Golden Boot) and Kalakot`s goalkeeper Noman Murad (Best Goalkeeper) were also presented with Rs10,000 each.
The drafts on Saturday were presented by PFF Director Operations Wing Cmdr (retd) Pervaiz Mir, Peoples Aman Committee`s (PAC) Sardar Uzair Jan and Shahid Rehman, KESC Head of Sports Marketing Zabe Khan, Chairman District West Zafar Iqbal and former national football team captain Ali Nawaz Baluch.
The PFF still has to pay the referees and match commissioner who supervised the two-week long event their fees.