Sparki: We have not been banned anywhere

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Admiral are lying. We have not been banned from the Refinery Grounds.

These are the words of Abdalla Ali, head Coach to Division One side Sparki Youth, in countering Admiral’s switch in venue for their next match, on account of Sparki have been permanently locked out of the Refinery Grounds.

Admiral, the hosts of the match to be played on Sunday 23 September, had initially announced that the match would be played at their usual Tudor Day School grounds.

Change of venue

However, they later opted to move it to the Refinery grounds, a pitch normally used by Magongo Rangers and Congo JMJ United, claiming that the Tudor grounds had been booked for a private function.

Later, on Friday 21, Admiral stated that the match had been moved back to the Tudor grounds, because, according to Technical Director Aref Baghazally, it had been revealed that Sparki had been banned from the Refinery grounds.

It is this declaration that has got Ali irked.

-We have not been banned from any venue. As a matter of fact, it was the venue itself that had been banned by the federation, but the ban has since been lifted and the ground is open for any team to use-Magongo have been using it, haven’t they,  said an irritated Ali.

-In addition, if there was such a ban, shouldn’t the Refinery’s Management have informed Admiral earlier in the week, rather than two days away to the match?

Request

Ali also said that they were reading malice in Admiral’s constant switching and re-switching of venues, but went ahead to note that they [Sparki] were ready to play the match anywhere.

-Admiral are just playing mind-games, but they should know that we are ready to tackle them anywhere.

-As long as the officiating is fair, then we can as well confirm that the day will be ours for the taking.

-However, we demand that Admiral stop tarnishing our name with outrageous and uncontrolled statements.

The match will kick-off at 1500hrs.