KARACHI, Oct 18: The opening day of national football trials turned ugly on Saturday when the members of two Sindh Football Association (SFA) factions got involved in affray on selection affairs.

The situation became out of control when president of the City District Football Association (CDFA) Nasir Kareem, who belongs to parallel association, wished to present the list of probables to the national chief selector Younus Changezi.

Abbas Baloch, the chairman of the SFA, having the backing of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), argued the names of the probables should also be provided to him before submitting it to the chairman of the selection committee.

The arguments between the two parties led to a brawl between Raheem Bukhsh of Abbas Baloch group and secretary Lyari Town Football Association, Haji Mohammad Iqbal Khan, a supporter of the rival party.

The ugly situation, which started in the presence of Changezi at CDGK Stadium, finally came to an end when the supporters of both the groups intervened and separated the two officials.

Abbas Baloch-led SFA and the parallel body headed by Haji Mohammad Murad had announced their committees to help the chief selector choose the players and to ensure that their players are not being overlooked.

Changezi, however, rejected to recognize the committees formed by the two groups, saying he would be assisted by individuals named by him for the selection in the provinces.

“There will be no committees to assist me except those people named by me. But I will consider the players for selection recommended by both the groups. I am going to report the incident to the PFF. I think both the groups will be united as they have agreed to work for the game,” Changezi said.

However, another scene was created when Abbas Baloch, also a PFF vice-president, exchanged hot words with Changezi on naming the selectors for picking players from the provinces.

“Changezi has no authority to name individuals for the selection of the probables in provinces. He is the chairman, while Brig Arif Siddiqi, Khalid Lateef and I are the members of the national selection committee.

“Then how can he (Changezi) name few people on his own while I am also a national selector and the vice-president of the PFF,” Abbas said.

Abbas said Changezi had appointed Qadir Bukhsh for his help in Sindh, Ayub Dar for Balochistan, Haji Ilyas for NWFP and had asked the secretary PFF to name another for Punjab.

Changezi, however, was adamant that he had the powers to nominate a person to assist him for the selection of the players in provinces, but added he had not been intimated by the PFF as to who were the national selection committee members.

According to the chief selector, some 70 players reported and only registration could be done on the first day of the five-day open trials.

PFF has planned to hold open trials in all the four provinces before the final trials in Islamabad for the SAF Games in the capital in March next year.

PFF had abolished the selection committee in 1999 after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) provided it two qualified coaches for three years. However, the selection committee was revived soon after the departure of the foreign coaches because of termination of the AFC development programme.

AFC provides coaches to Asian countries for which abolishment of the selection committee is one of the pre-requisites.