In war there is this phrase called collateral damage and it pertains to people who are not direct participants in the war who become its victims and it happens to civilians in a war situation. The apathy of Indian football administrators towards the functioning of the AIFF and subsequent ban imposed on Indian football by the highest governing body of the sport FIFA has presented a similar situation.
The sad part here is that there are two people who are victims of this collateral damage – one is of course the fans and the young players whose aspirations to represent their country at the highest level has been shattered.
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When you lose out on international tournaments, international schemes and time spent on the pitch, the motivation to perform takes a big beating, that too for no fault
of theirs.
In a country like India where cricket is a religion and cricketers god, it is anyway difficult to pursue any other sporting discipline as there is lack of money and opportunities to grow. Parents are reluctant to let their wards pursue any other sporting career except cricket. Adding salt to this injury is the vested interests of the powers to be, whose actions only relegate non-cricket sports further.
In addition to the to the hurt to so many sports lovers and football lovers, what is even more crucial is that a lot of opportunities are going to go abegging as players hopeful of participating in major international competitions are being disallowed to do so.
Senior journalist Jovito Lopes said, “The problem started because on May 18 the Supreme Court verdict forced Praful Patel and his executive committee to step down.The Supreme Court appointed a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA). Now we have to go back and analyze that Praful Patel’s third-term in office as AIFF president ended in December 2020.But he stayed in office citing a pending Supreme Court case.The case has been pending since 2017, but the worst thing is that he refused to hold elections till the issue of the new constitution was settled by the top court.“Now somebody who went to the Supreme Court and it showed the doors to Patel and the executive committee.This happened on May 18. On May 23, Patel requested FIFA chief not to impose ban on the country after AIFF was placed under CoA. And then the three-member committee took over and started working. The problem was the electoral college was set up by this CoA, which had 36 association members. But they incorporated 36 eminent persons which was rejected by FIFA.”
Speaking on the ramifications this will have, football enthusiastSullivan Noronha said that from a fan’s point of view, it’s just going to be very disheartening.
“It’s a tragic incident that has happened.Look at it also from a player’s perspective also. Take for example FC Goa.The number of young players that FC Goa employs, where is the motivation going to come from?The be all and end all for a player is to represent the national team, play internationally.Even when they’re playing club football, they want to perform well so that they get selected to the national team.But where is it motivation going to come from now?” he asked.
“I mean it’s just sad to think that we’re in we’re in an age of Indian football where we have really talented players in this team. We could only get better from where we are but now that this has happened.What’s going to happen with this team,” Sullivan questioned.
So, what led to FIFA taking such a drastic decision and what is the phrase third party interference all about?
Savio Messias, member of Goa Football Association said that in 2003 the AIFF constitution was being rewritten.The meeting was chaired by then president late Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi. All the State association were requested to send their proposed amendments.
“So many of us took our association into confidence and we suggested many amendments. But when we reached the venue, Praful Patel rejected all proposed amendments and put it to vote.Everybody supported him.The few of us who had suggested the amendments were left high and dry,”
Messias said.
“We were never given a chance.In 20 minutes the meeting concluded. I spent two hours in a flight, another one hour to reach there and in 15-20 minutes the meeting concluded.So basically, it was a faultyelection process, a faulty constitution. Now this is the reason why Praful Patel and all these other people have taken advantage of it. FIFA condition is very clear very clear. At that point of time some of the amendments suggested by FIFA were not accepted,” he added.
The common impression that everybody is getting and the tone of FIFA’s letter, it almost seems that the AIFF river was being run in some kind of a shady fashion. hat you know that that is what hurts everybody it just says that Indian football is running a shady manner.There’s political interference, there are people who are not connected to football running it…
Elvis Gomes, Former Chairman GFDC said, “There is a deeper malaise that has affected Indian sport.Now we are discussing about football.But you should not forget the fact that this sword also is hanging on Indian Olympic Association, Indian Hockey Federation. It actually started with Archery association.”
According to him, there are two AIFFs. One AIFF was headed by Praful pate and the other which is being run by the CoA appointed by the Supreme Court.
“Now you have to also bear in mind one thing, Supreme Court just did not fall into this issue. This issue went before the Supreme Court in an appeal filed by AIFF. You have to go back in time to 2017 when the whole issue started when the Delhi High Court said we have to follow a sports code.In a nutshell the sports code prescribes the procedure how to elect the executive committees, prescribes what should be the age limit for a particular person in the chair of the president and what is going to be the tenure of this particular office along with other office bearers,” Gomes said.
Sports code is a basic compilation of directions given by the Government of India for different federations, who in turn have given these directions to the respective associations.
“The Delhi High Court in 2017 had quashed the elections to the executive committee of AIFF, headed by Praful Patel. AIFF went to Supreme Court and obtained a stay, which lasted beyond the stipulated tenure of 2020 and it extended for another two years. So, the SC said that the tenure had already ended and told the members to step down,” he said.
Savio Messias said that to contest the elections for the post of AIFF president, one has to get five people to second the proposal. Which meant one has to have control over majority of the members and one from every zone.
“It was very difficult to do that because in a small zone sometimes we have just four states like in West Zone,thereis Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Daman.So to get the proposal seconded from every zone was next to impossible. So, in this way MrDasmunsi and Praful Patel controlled the elections. Nobody could contest the elections. That’s what led me going to the court,” Messias said.
Jovito Lopes said that in 2011, the AIFF wanted some of the State associations to implement the sports code, when the they themselves were not in favourfor it because the tenure is specified.That’s what now they say that you have to have a cooling period after eight consecutive years and therefore to circumvent this, Patel went to SC. But there was an end was divested of the post. Therefore this COA took over.
“The CoA should have also involved FIFA in this whole matter.Article 12 of the statues says that there should not be any third-party interference. So had they taken FIFA along then, all these problems wouldn’t have emerged. As far as the ISL is concerned all the players foreign players have almost been signed and there is no other window.It is the I-League which will suffer,” Lopes said.
On June 23, FIFA told AIFF to clean up the mess and ensure that its constitution is approved by July 31, conduct the elections by September 15. Apparently then AIFF went to the Supreme Court and said that they were ready to conduct the elections by August 28. Why couldn’t AIFF get their act together by September 15?
Jovito Lopes said that on July 13, the COA sent the final constitution draft to FIFA. On July 16 CoA submittedAIFF draft constitution to Supreme Court for its approval. On July 18 the State associations expressed unhappiness over several provisions in the final draft. But said that they were willing to find the middle ground.So, the State associations represented by seven-member panel wrote to FIFA stating that several clauses of the final draft are discriminatory and illogical.
“Now on July 21, the Supreme Court endorsed the need to expedite the elections and therefore they have 36 representatives on one side gets representing the state associations and they have 36 now new group of eminent persons, which in any case FIFA is not going to accept,” he said.
Elvis Gomes said that when the Delhi High Court had passed the first verdict and got the stay from Supreme Court, they had appointed only one administrator, that is Mr Qureshi, the former chief election commissioner. He was given this task to prepare the draft revised constitution. From 2017 to 2022, it has taken five long years. In the meantime, the matter went to Supreme Court, stay order was obtained and the issue continued to rot there right until it was brought to Supreme Court’s notice.
“See, the complicity is from various administrators. Had this been done in time, we would not have lost so much as we have last now. This did not get delivered in time. We have to thank the Supreme Court that they took it upon themselves to end this matter once and for all. They said let the draft go before the people whoever wants to give suggestions let them give. I’ve given a couple of suggestions and the court is going to pass a final order on it. Now the ban has been imposed. But the matter is again coming for hearing before the Supreme Court, hopefully there will be some solution and the ban should go,” he said.
A layman football lover would certainly like to know why should FIFA object to Indian football being managed by eminent footballers instead of people from outside?
Jovito Lopes said the FIFA statutes state that the member federations should not be subject to legal and political interference in their countries.Now, despite Supreme Court’s interference, which was already there, FIFA did not ban India and instead sent a joint FIFA-AFC mission to monitor the situation of Indian football.
The Supreme Court appointed the CoA, which is the bone of contention. You have 36 member associations;you have to get 36 eminent players. Players can also come into the executive committee of the clubs or stand for elections indirectly and you come through. What FIFA says thatyou can have 25% eminent persons, but that also co-opted by the state associations.So, on this FIFA is not going change theirStatute #12.
“CoA according to me, should have sorted out all this by calling for a General Body meeting and telling them this would be the scenario. According to the national sports code, tenures of office bearers are already defined, you can’t violate that. In Goa we have had a president of one sports association for 25 years. There is also now a similar problem in Goa Olympics Association. So, that is why Supreme Court has intervened and I am glad they did it because this mess has to be cleared once for all,” he said.
Sullivan Noronha said that there is a lot of negativity with regard to what is happening around Indian football, which is extremely disheartening for every Indian football fan.
“With regard to ISL, we all want to watch good football and want our budding players to grow and play for the national team in future and do something worthwhile on the international stage. From that yardstick, ISL is a great platform. We wouldn’t have heard of some reputed younger players had it not for the ISL. What ISL and FC Goa is doing for Indian and Goa football is great. But when it comes to pushing these players to play for the national team, it leaves a lot to be desired,”
Noronha said.
Savio Messias said that had it not been for F Goa it would have been difficult to gauge the fate of football in Goa.
“We have had lot of foreign delegations coming to Goa in the past. Nobody could believe that our officials are not full time. For example, the president and secretary of the Association are not full-time. But in the West, the office bearers work in office full-time. In Goa sometimes officials come once in a month and stay in office only for few minutes. This is not how an organization is run,” he said.
What would be the possible impact of our players missing out on various opportunities is this mess is not sorted out in time?
Savio Messias said that the impact will be huge. “The playerstrain very hard in difficult conditions to get international exposure. They have aspirations to play for their country and make a mark for themselves. When a ban like this imposed, their aspirations are hit.”
India may lose out hosting the U-17 Women’s FIFA World Cup this year due to the ban. Events like these have also commercial also a commercial benefits as industries bring in money, it boosts foreign exchange as tourism is boosted since fans travel from far away places to see their teams performing.
Due to COVID, number of youth tournaments have gone down and consequently the interest level regarding the sport has also waned amongst the kids. The Indian national team was also riding on high hopes of playing well.The coach was planning for long camps. A lot of planning was going on. All this will get affected.
Talking about the World Cup, Sullivan Noronha said that India hosted the previous Under-17 men’s World Cup and got to see the big stars. These players are established stars of huge clubs across the world right now.
“What if at this particular World Cup there would have been a couple of girls who you know eventually would have made it to the English national team or some big club in the world football circuit. We find as fans we’re being deprived from seeing possibly something great that could happen in the future, which I mean is not fair to us,” he said.
“Because I mean we go to watch matches, we pay our money to watch matches, we sit up to watch matches at anytime. When the Indian team goes to play abroad, we sit up to watch the matches. It’s not fair to us that we have to suffer on account of couple of people’s indecision and poor administration. I just don’t think it’s fair to us,” he said.
As far as the ISL is concerned, is there a fear that team will no longer be able to have if this is not solved foreign players playing for them will it affect the next season?
Jovito Lopes said that all the clubs have signed all their foreign players. So that can be held, there will be no problem in organising the ISL. Though ISL has not actually contributed munch in the form of the league.It’s not even in the first ten in the list of Asian leagues. There’s no relegation. Fewer number of matches are being played and that’s not the way to go about it. They have virtually killed the I-league.
Three teams from I-League have withdrawn. Sowe see politics again. This is the politics played by AIFF. They went with Reliance and it has hampered the actual development of football.But let me tell you that the suspension will affect India as they all talked about hosting of World Under-17 girlsteam. That is one part. Goa has already been affected by that.
“We are the first casualty. We were to host the C-license course.We were to start the second module of the C-license course meant for coaching, approved by Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It’s a diploma course for becoming a coach and it is recognisedby AFC. We conducted the first module in Goa. Due to the suspension, the course for second module which was to start now, can’t be done anymore. I saw 24 people who came some came from Kerala and other States and also from Goa, had to be told by the adjudicators that they course can’t be conducted any further till the suspension is in effect. We are the first casualty,” Lopes said.
Elvis Gomes said that there are other implications also.
“There are it’s not just about playing on the field or development of players.There are other large number of benefits that flow from FIFA.Whether it’s coaching, whether it is players’ development or grounds like the Dulerand FatordaAstroturf,” Gomes said.
Lopes said that Goacould lose on massive FIFA grants.“Now let me share with you in the last three years the AIFF got 3 million US dollars.This money has been used for laying Astroturf also, like one we have at Duler. Astroturf at Nerul is has not been built from AIFF money. It was made with the money given by FIFA. All the funds for development of grassroots football comes from FIFA.”
“We all could lose 5 lakh dollars annually from our grants. National teams won’t be able to play in any international matches.There are two matches scheduled already against Singapore and Vietnam. But India will not be able to participate in that and we will not be able to take up any developmental programme like courses in training and all that.
Gokulam Kerala FC players have been barred from participating in the Asian Women’s Club Championship being held in Tashkent due to AIFF’s suspension. There are matches scheduled next month against Singapore and Vietnam, which again we won’t be able to play. Senior women’s team will not be able to take part in SAFFWomen’s championship next month. Mohun Bagan FC has to play in AFC cup internationals on September 7 and India has to play in AFC Under-20 qualifiers in Iraq. What we also know that Kerala blasters were to go to Emirates to play three friendlies on August 20 in UAE as pre-season football.
“The solicitor general said that we need to take proactive steps at FIFA to lift suspension and ensure India gets to host the Under-17 Women’s World Cup. The whole focus now is because the government is involved, so the prestige of the nation is involved. But it’s not only the prestige of the nation. There are other implications also. Therefore, people don’t understand what is a sports law and what is the article 12 of the statutes of FIFA unless you understand that this whole scenario is not as easy and simple as it’s being portrayed,” he said.
Is Praful Patel the disease or he is the aftereffect of the disease or is he a symptom of a diseased system?
Savio Messias said that it is the diseased system. But began with AIFF, then the AFC, then FIFA. One gets lot so facilites, is treated like a VVIP. There are lot of benefits.
Elvis Gomes added that it is the overall system which is diseased. There is nom point blaming any one individual.
“At association level, they are the ones who make up the federations. When there is a rot in the association, it reflects at the Federation level. And now the situation at Federation level is for the world to see because the FIFA has stepped into the picture. But on the lighter side, due to this controversy, the country is speaking about football,” Gomes said.
The entire AIFF-FIFA controversy has again brought the spotlight back on the complete mismanagement of sports bodies in our country. The vested interests of a handful of people is costing the future of hundreds of athletes in country, which unpardonable. It is high time that the Union government ensures that national sports code is implemented in toto and there has to be an audit of all sports federations to prevent from similar embarrassment.
