PANJIM: Dissatisfied with the terms of current All India Football Federation (AIFF) Road Map, Sporting Clube de Goa confirmed their exit from the I-League to become the second Goan club after Salgaocar FC to opt out of the National league, on Tuesday.
“With regret Sporting Clube de Goa confirms their withdrawal from the I-League,” Sporting Clube de Goa said in a statement.
As per the proposal, India would have a three-tiered league system with the Indian Super League (ISL) being elevated to the position of the premier league competition of the country. However, there would be no scope of promotion or relegation for a certain number of years thus restricting the opportunity for the clubs plying their trade in the second division, namely League One.
Following the strong objections to the Road Map for Indian football as proposed by AIFF and their marketing partners on May 17, Sporting Clube earlier along with fellow Goan club Salgoacar FC, after several rounds of deliberations, had taken the painful decision to withdraw from the forthcoming edition of the I-League.
However, the Panjim based club were expecting a positive remedy in the favour of the I-League from the AIFF as the National football governing body swung into damage control mode and General Secretary Kushal Das, I-League CEO Sunando Dhar along with Chirag Tanna representing IMG-Reliance had dashed down to Goa and met the representatives of Goan clubs which also included Dempo Sports Club.
“AIFF General Secretary assured to call a meeting of all the I-League clubs to consult the AIFF President, Executive Committee and also their marketing partners IMG Reliance and revert back with a final binding proposal on or before July 31. But nothing was heard from AIFF till an Executive Committee decided on July 28 to form a Small Working Committee to speak to all the stake holders and then decide on restructuring of club football in the country. As to which stakeholders this committee spoke to we are not aware,” stated Sporting Clube.
“Our club and another I-League club Mumbai FC took the bold step to write to FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) expressing their concerns with regards to the State and direction of football in India. This prompted AFC to form a Task Force to assist AIFF in preparation of a Road Map for Indian football,” the statement read.
The Task Force consisting of high ranking officials of AFC, AIFF and IMG-Reliance also had its first meeting in Goa on September 27.
“We are in the dark as to what transpired at this meeting, as sadly there was no representative of any I- League club there, which fact itself tells its own story.”
“All this time we at Sporting Clube clung to the hope that following the statements coming from the Presidents of FIFA, AFC and our own AIFF, and following our representation to FIFA and AFC, a fresh Road Map which did not envisage the forced demotion of the I-League teams, would be announced well in time to allow us to field our team in the forthcoming I-League. With that hope, we even participated in the Club Licencing process and secured our National Licence,” the club further stated.
But Sporting Clube’s hopes were dashed recently after Praful Patel’s comment during the book launch function of Saji Prabharkaran on November 8.
“But we now realise that all our hopes have been belied. Patel made the following statement, “We (the AIFF) have set the cat among the pigeons”. One knows very well what happens when the cat is set amongst the pigeons. This statement is a pointer to the thought process of AIFF as to the future course of Indian football and leaves us with no other option but confirm our withdrawal from the I-League.”
Sporting Clube confirmed that this is only a tactical decision to stay out of the I-League, till AIFF gets it Road Map right and Sporting Clube will continue with all other football activities like grassroots and youth football development and also maintain a strong first team to compete in Goa as well as in All India football tournaments.
“The decision had been taken long back based on the current AIFF’s Road Map, but we were expecting a positive response from them, but now we confirm our exit from the I-League based on the current scenario. We only wanted that I-League shouldn’t be demoted as the second tier league,” Sporting Clube de Goa CEO Victor Fernandes said.
Now with Sporting Clube and Salgaocar FC opting out of the league, will the third Goan club – Dempo Sports Club will also follow them to leave the Goan football in darkness?
However, when Herald tried to contact AIFF President Praful Patel and Dempo SC chairman Shrinivas Dempo for comments, their cell phones were out of reach.
