[Pic:Fiji FA/Facebook]

Dayals Steel Ba FC coach, Ravinesh Kumar, believes some have tried to paint a wrong picture and have twisted the post-match incident that happened under the 4R Stadium tunnel in Ba last Sunday.

Kumar says he reacted the way he did, not because the security officer was not allowing fans to come in without official passes.

However, he shouted because he didn’t agree with how the officer handled a few players and the Ba FA president’s children who also tried to get in.

The Ba coach says he’s a father and didn’t like the way the children were treated, which was not captured in the video that went viral shortly after the incident.

He adds the Ba FA president’s son got bruises on his hand and they have proof. Kumar also says he lost himself when he saw the bruises.

According to Kumar, the Fiji FA officials were watching from a distance inside the tunnel, and nobody had the guts to come and stop the security officer in what he claims was mistreating the children.

People are saying I overreacted. I have raised my voice, yes, I have done that because the children were abused. Nowhere are people concentrating on that and everybody is painting a wrong picture about me and putting up big news that I have been fined. I wasn’t arguing with the security officer why didn’t you allow people to come inside, no, that’s not the story. I was arguing; I was debating. Yeah, I raised my voice because of the children, because the security officer abused the children.

Kumar says they submitted their report about the incident to the Fiji FA with proof that some children were mistreated or abused.

Today, the Fiji FA says they’ve taken disciplinary action against Kumar.

Fiji FA’s chief executive, Mohammed Yusuf, confirms they’ve received reports from the security officers, their company, competition managers, and other officials responsible for the internal areas.

After careful consideration of all reports, the Fiji FA competitions committee decided to issue Kumar a final warning.

Yusuf says that if Kumar repeats such behavior, he will face a five-match ban from the Ba bench.

Kumar has also been fined a monetary penalty, which must be paid before the semi-final match tomorrow.

Kumar says Ba FA respects the decision and they’ll pay the fine and will take note of this in future.

Meanwhile, former national and Ba goalkeeper Isikeli Seva Senior has been banned from the changing room and ground areas, relegated to watching matches only from the stands. Seva Snr was one of the fans who wanted to enter the internal area without an official pass.

Tomorrow’s BOG semi-finals will see Ba face Global Care Suva at 2:30 pm, followed by Nasinu against Stratum/PPCL Rewa FC at 4:30 pm.

The final is set for Sunday at 3pm. You can listen to the semifinals and final live commentaries on Radio Fiji Two.