Organizers have postponed a women’s friendly football match in northeastern Bangladesh following objections from a group of local Islamic clerics who raised concerns over the event.
The match between local women’s team Swapnachura Sporting Club and Sylhet-based Zara Sporting Club was scheduled for Monday afternoon at Dirai Upazila Stadium in Sunamganj district, part of Bangladesh’s northeastern Sylhet region.
Rakib Ahmed, president and coach of Swapnachura Sporting Club, said the club has been training teenage girls in football since 2019. Its players regularly participate in competitions at the national level, he said.
Ahmed said the organizers had obtained permission from the local administration to hold the friendly and had also informed police. However, they eventually postponed the match following objections from local Islamic clerics.
Dirai Upazila Nirbahi Officer Sanjib Sarker, the local government’s chief administrative official, said the organizers had sought permission five or six days earlier to hold a friendly football match involving teenage girls at the stadium.
However, announcements made over loudspeakers the night before the scheduled match described the event as a “women’s friendly football match.”
Sarker said a group of local clerics subsequently met him and expressed concern that holding the event could disrupt peace and public order in the area.
He said Swapnachura Sporting Club had been working with female footballers for years but was not a registered organization.
Because both the organizers and those objecting to the match were local residents, the administration advised them to discuss the issue among themselves and reach a peaceful resolution, Sarker said. The organizers later announced the postponement.
Maulana Sharif Uddin, who led the group objecting to the match, identified himself to journalists as president of a local group called the “Committee for Preventing Anti-Islamic Activities in Dirai.”
Sharif said the clerics initially heard that teenage girls would play football but later heard loudspeaker announcements describing the event as a women’s football match.
He claimed that women’s football had not previously been held in Dirai. He said the group objected because its members feared there could be what he described as “dancing and obscenity” involving women at the venue.
Sharif maintained that the group was not opposed to sports.
Dirai Police Station Officer-in-Charge Aminul Islam said the organizers had obtained permission from the local administration and informed police about the event. Police had made the necessary security preparations, he said.
The organizers later decided to postpone the match after the objections were raised, Islam said, adding that the situation in the area remained calm.
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