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SPORTS:
FOOTBALL
Crunch
Match
Leading
clubs fight for professionalism and demand change from the men who run
Indian football
By
Labonita Ghosh and
M.G. Radhakrishnan
Professionalise
or perish: the message has just gone out to the ruling body for soccer
in the country, the All India Football Federation (AIFF). Leading soccer
clubs owned by corporate giants like the UB Group and Mahindras have joined
ranks to challenge the AIFF for mismanaging professional football and
frittering away its future. Football may not have cricket's profile but
enjoys enormous grassroots support countrywide. Individually, the clubs
are the pillars that support Indian football. Together they are a formidable
combination of both sporting and financial strength, a lobby that can
move big wheels.
 |
| Indian
football stumbles in the latest showdown |
These clubs
have banded together to form the Indian Premier Football Association (IPFA)
and their first action as a group was to unanimously withdraw from the
National Football League (NFL), India's leading home tournament. They
demanded a hearing from the AIFF whose officials had nothing to bargain
with. The AIFF's controversial President Priya Ranjan Das Munshi was forced
to postpone the NFL because with nine out of 12 clubs withdrawing, the
league was meaningless. Headed by UB Group chief Vijay Mallya, the IPFA
first included East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Mohammedan Sporting, Tollygunge
Agragami, Zee Churchill, Salgaoncar Sports Club, FC Kochin, JCT Phagwara
and Mahindra United. Even though Goa-based Zee Churchill, and later JCT,
later clarified they were not part of the IPFA, they do not dispute its
aims. Sameer Thapar of JCT, who is also the president of the Punjab Football
Association, even declared he would stand against Das Munshi in the elections
for AIFF president on December 16: "We believe things can be achieved
by entering into a dialogue with the AIFF and not by abandoning the league,"
he says
Mallya is
quick to clarify that the IPFA is not a rebel league, more a pressure
group. "This is not a breakaway organisation. We will be very happy
to work with the AIFF." Whether the AIFF today can work at all is
the question.
The IPFA's
list of demands implies it cannot. For starters, it wants to run the NFL
on its own. "Where's the problem?" asks Anjan Mitra, secretary
of Mohun Bagan. "It'll be much less of a headache if we organise
the tournament, and AIFF will still get a fat royalty from us." The
AIFF's record in administration is woeful: defending NFL champs Mohun
Bagan received Rs 30 lakh of its Rs 45 lakh NFL prize purse only when
rumours of a rebellion began to stir late last week. Until recently the
AIFF did not even have a fixed business office.
The lack
of cash flow and sponsorships has hit clubs hard. Thapar admits, "It
is an outflow. What we get back in prize money is peanuts." In 1996,
the cost of running a professional club ranged between Rs 35 lakh and
Rs 50 lakh but today can total up to Rs 2 crore. FC Kochin, India's first
pro club formed four years ago, is struggling with losses of over Rs 3
crore. Sponsorship has gone from Rs 1 crore in its first year to Rs 50
lakh in 2000. P.V. Paul, executive secretary, FC Kochin, says, "Sponsors
are ready to pay well if NFL matches are telecast live. But here the AIFF
has completely failed."
The AIFF's
first and only brush with professional marketing came in 1996 when the
NFL was promoted by sports marketing giants IMG and sponsored by Philips,
with Star Sports telecasting all 90 matches live. Since then, the AIFF
dispensed with the IMG and sold its own telecast rights to Doordarshan,
which has done little for the promotion of the NFL.
Das Munshi
is unfazed. "The authority of the AIFF and state associations cannot
be undermined, challenged or questioned by any outside forces. The federation
is not going to succumb to the dictates of a few sponsors," he boasts.
These are defiant words from a man under pressure. It does appear though
that the battle will come down to Das Munshi's survival versus the revival
of Indian football. Indian football stands at the crossroads today.
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