A scuffle broke out as Sudharshana Ramanayake forcefully grabbed the ball away from Saunders coach while a few other players joined in the act, at Saunders v Nandimithra SC encounter in the Dialog Champions League, played at the Kelaniya Football Complex.
The incident happened when Nandimithra SC were already 5-0 down, in a line-out situation. Nandimithra skipper Sudarshana Ramanayke got into an argument with Saunders coach, when he came to take a linout. The ball was kicked out towards Saunders bench and it was picked up by the Saunders coach. Sudarshana came rushing in and pulled the ball away which made Saunders supporters and players react with displeasure.
Things got even worse when a few players of Saunders SC in the field came running to confront Sudarshana but the 4th referee coming in between and prevented both parties from going into a brawl. That was when Saunders supporters came into the field which made the Police also engage into action. Referee had to hold the match for a few minutes until the crowd was controlled by the Police.
Match was dominated by Saunders who has had a bad season so far, not winning a match. However they changed that with the commanding win against Nandimithra. Nandimithra on the other hand having done fairly well this season failed to live up to their expectations this match. Towards the latter part of the match, players were getting into a few arguments. Nandimithra letting their frustration out which lead them into getting yellow cards and been warned by the referee quite a few times.
Sudarshana had no intention of making any offense to his opponents; he merely wanted to get on with the game which was expected from them since they were already five goals behind. It was the manner in which he grabbed the ball that displeased the opponents. However Saunders players should not have tried to confront Sudarshana which made the supporters get excited as well. It was well controlled in the end by the Police, but these events should certainly not happen in the game and the players should also keep their discipline in order so that the officials can get on with the game far more smoothly.
