Usha came to the Maulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium in time for a 2.45pm start and the two Indian umpires waited 15 minutes more than the regulation ten minutes before deciding to call it a day as Mohammedan did not appear.

Acting general secretary of Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) Khwaja Rahmatullah told after an informal emergency meeting of the executive committee members last night, presided over by vice-president Pratap Shankar Hazra, that the incident will stand as a walkover and they will continue the league.

"We have talked with the BHF president and he has told us to stick to the rules. Now the final decision about Mohammedan's fate will be taken at a full executive committee meeting," Rahmatullah said.

According to bylaws, teams forfeiting matches will be relegated to the next division. The EC meeting on this issue is likely to be held after return of general secretary Shamsul Bari, who left Dhaka for London yesterday.

Mohammedan's refusal to play was a decision in demand of proper punishment of a few players who were engaged in a brawl during Wednesday's Abahani-Usha match.

There was a brawl between Abahani defender Khokon, who was yellow carded by the umpire for a temporary ban, and Usha's Pakistani midfielder Mohammed Saqlain and the match was abandoned after 58 minutes following crowd violence.

It resumed on Thursday to be completed and the league committee punished two officials -- one from Usha and Abahani each.

All but out of title race, Mohammedan rejected the punishment claiming it 'not enough' and they asked the federation to watch video footage and punish the involved players and officials.

Mariner Youngs Club also joined Mohammedan in unison but Rahmatullah told that the federation will request Mariners to play in today's match.

When reminded of the countrywide blockade starting from today, he added that the federation will take a decision about halting the league depending on the future situation.

Mohammedan, however, had submitted a letter to the BHF at 12.30pm yesterday proclaiming their decision not to play.

League committee secretary Moinuzzaman Pila admitted that the committee received a letter from Mohammedan.

"When we received the letter there was not enough time to call off the game. Had we received it a day earlier, we could have taken a decision. We were prepared and waited for Mohammedan," Pila said. "According to bylaws it was a walkover. We have refereed the matter to the BHF executive committee," he added.