PANJIM: Following the exit of Salgaocar Football Club and Sporting Clube de Goa, Dempo Sports Club officially announced their withdrawal from the National league – I-League — in protest against All India Football Federation’s proposed roadmap, on Wednesday.
All the three Goan club owners – Shivanand Salgaocar, Peter Vaz and Shrinivas Dempo had taken a united stand on June 24 to oppose the restructuring that makes Indian Super League(ISL) a top-tier league and relegates I-League to the Second Division or ‘League One’ as it will be called.
With the deadline for submitting the participation agreement ending December 7, President Shrinivas V. Dempo in a formal letter to the General Secretary of All India Football Federation stated, “Our decision at Dempo Sports Club on participating in the ensuing I-League 2016-17 season has been carefully discussed and evaluated by the club management during the last few months.”
He further recollected that since the inception of the club their objective has been to contribute to the development of football in Goa and in India.
“The club has been the most successful football Club in India in the last 15 years, having won the National Football League and the I-League five times and all the major football tournaments in the country, besides contributing a substantial number of players to the Indian National team,” he stated.
Dempo further called to mind the round table meeting held last May in New Delhi wherein the All India Football Federation had proposed the reorganization of the I-League and ISL.
With the AIFF’s final road map on the reorganization still in the process of being drawn up Dempo said, “Considering the high cost of fielding and maintaining a team in the I-League and the uncertainty regarding the reorganization of the competition, the Promoters of the Dempo Group of Companies and the Management of the Club have decided that it will not be worthwhile to make the considerable additional investment required to field a team in the I-League and we will not field a team in the forthcoming I-League.”
“Our love for the game, we shall redouble our efforts and investments in the grassroots and youth development programmes to prepare the soccer stars of the future. We are glad to inform you that we are also launching a football academy from the next scholastic year onwards.” Dempo further said.
The five-time champions, Dempo’s pull-out leaves the AIFF with a major headache as the I-League now has only seven clubs – East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Bengaluru FC, DSK Shivajians, Mumbai FC, Shillong Lajong and Aizawl FC, who were reinstated after being relegated last season.
