MARGAO: The All India Football Federation President Praful Patel informed it is time for all the State associations to become “more accountable”.
“I feel many States are not doing enough. If Indian football as a whole has to grow, we need more wholehearted support and participation,” he said while chairing the annual general body meeting held in a hotel at Varca, on Sunday.
“We will soon be going to rank the States much like the licensing criteria which is in existence for the I-League clubs. There has to be accountability from all the State associations,” he added.
“AIFF is the custodian of football in India and we are here to give a direction to Indian football. For that, all the States need to move in sync,” he stated.
Mentioning that the idea is to take the game to all corners of the country, Patel lauded the support and supply line of players from the North East region.
“North East is the backbone of Indian football at the moment. Furthermore, if you look at Kashmir, there were around 18,000 people cheering for LoneStar FC when they played their home matches in the 2nd Division League. The diversification of football is so positive,” he said.
“One of the primary reasons for bidding for the 2017 Under-17 World Cup was to start a new footballing culture in the country. We have made a beginning and hope it will usher in a new era and give a new dimension to the sport in the country.”
Patel also stressed on developing an “ecosystem for football”.
“We have introduced an U-15 League and the response has been so encouraging. The idea is to develop an entire ecosystem of football. Indian Football is not long away; it’s on the horizon,” Patel pronounced.
General Secretary Kushal Das highlighted that the AIFF is addressing the “transition phase” to produce better players.
“The kids who have been identified at the GR level need to be engaged in the YDP and we are working on that,” he said.
Das also stressed on AIFF’s “zero tolerance policy on corruption related to the sport.”
“The AIFF has maintained a zero tolerance on corruption. We have conducted workshops with FIFA and even have an integrity officer on board. Maintaining integrity is not just about fighting match fixing. It percolates down to all the administrators who run the State FA, clubs and the AIFF. In fact, we at AIFF have signed a code of ethics to address the issue,” Das echoed.
Vice-Presidents Subrata Dutta, Subhash Chopra; Shrinivas Dempo, Executive Committee members and officials from member associations (except Haryana and Nagaland) were also present at the meeting.
