Larkin stadium saga takes a new twist as T-Team player claims no untoward incident happened

The ongoing Larkin stadium saga took a new twist when a T-Team player claimed that the match should not have been abandoned since the safety of T-Team players was not under any threat as alleged.

T-Team player Irfan Abd Ghani, 25, claimed that the FA Cup match between T-Team and Jahor Darul Takzim (JDT) should not have been abandoned after half time since there was no untoward incident.

Irfan said while in the dressing room, he did not notice any injury on T-Team's Brazilian import Evaldo Rodrigues and fitness coach Stefano Impagliazzo, who were allegedly assaulted by a high ranking JDT official.

In fact almost all the T-Team players had wanted to continue the match but it was assistant coach Azlan Johar who had made the decision to not resume play and return home," he told reporters after giving his statement to the police at the Johor police headquarters, here Wednesday.

Irfan said Azlan had said that if the players continued playing they would not return to Terengganu safely even if they eventually won the match.

The decision to not continue playing was not made by head coach Mohd Azraai Khor Abdullah but Azlan Johar, said Irfan, a defender who was not fielded in the match.

Irfan who said that he was ready to face any action taken by the T-Team management, including sacking him for speaking out, claimed that his decision to speak out was to remain steadfast to the truth.

"I just want the truth to prevail. If I am sacked for speaking the truth, so be it," said Irfan who is incidentally from Johor.

The match between JDT and T-Team was abandoned after half time whilst JDT was leading 2-1, when the T-Team players failed to emerge from the dressing room after the half time break, apparently for fear of their safety.

Subsequently, four police reports were lodged by the T-Team management, players and the fitness coach at the Kuala Terengganu police headquarters.

JDT head coach Cesar Ferrando Jimenez had also lodged a police report over the incident at the Johor Baharu Selatan police station, yesterday.