Goal.com lists down five unsavoury moments in a year where several debatable issues cropped up...
The time has come to take stock of things; what went right and what didn’t go according to the plan.Reflection is an important indication of intelligence as it is the “noblest” way to acquire it, according to Confucius.
In this piece, we cast a look at some of the major headlines in the calendar year which left a bad taste among the football fraternity.
The idea is not to highlight the mistakes again for some cheap attention but with a hope that the concerned organizations or individuals take a leaf out of them.
| The Seikhohao Tuboi Case |
After Southern Samity raised a concern with the match commissioner against Shillong Lajong for fielding Seikhohao Tuboi, who was registered with three state associations and had also featured for Army XI earlier in the season, in the I-League second division, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) suspended the player following an internal enquiry with no official protest being lodged as the regulations state that it must be raised prior to the kick-off of the competition.
After Goal.com brought to forth the regulations which state that a team fielding an ineligible player must be scratched from the competition, Vasco took up the matter with the AIFF. The Players’ Status Committee met and stated that the player was at fault and not the club which was later ratified by the Executive Committee of the Indian FA.
It is learnt that thereafter Vasco had opted for arbitration to which the Indian FA allegedly replied with an opinion of a certain high profile advocate that the Goan club didn’t stand a chance for mediation.
This led to Vasco taking the legal route and filing a case just days before the kick-off of the I-League which put the concerned parties in the dock.
Interestingly, the lawyer sent by the AIFF – Vikram Singh – was a corporate lawyer and not a litigant which drew smiles from the other parties involved!
It was the Lajong owner Larsing Ming, who played a key role in ensuring that the matter is decided out of court with Vasco agreeing that they shall pull out the case with Indian FA president Praful Patel ready to hear their grievances.
| Club Versus Country |
East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Pune FC and even Dempo SC, at a time when Armando Colaco was at the helm of the national side, decided not to release their players. In fact Dempo players flew back to their club only to rejoin the camp after the matter was resolved with the Indian FA president Praful Patel intervening yet again.
The club officials blamed the Indian FA for lack of “coordination” and organizing some “needless” tours at a time when the players need to train with their respective teams.
The issue cropped up again for the proposed tour to United Kingdom with games against Pakistan lined up, the organizers allegedly failed to rope in the sponsors and eventually the entire idea was chopped with the riots in England being given as the official reason.
India had called in the players for the camp and thereafter had to disperse the squad back to the clubs after the tour was cancelled.
During the SAFF Championship too, Dempo had threatened not to play their I-League match against Churchill given that seven players from their team were part of the national duty. However, this time the Indian FA didn’t pay heed to their protests and Dempo eventually played the match as scheduled.
| Cancellation Of The Friendly Against Barbados |
According to the original plan, India were to play Barbados on August 17 however since there was no confirmation by the latter, St.Kitts and Nevis were roped in by the organizers of the tour. Thereafter India’s travel itinerary involved a flight to St.Kitts and Nevis from Bridgetown.
However, the organizers informed the AIFF that Barbados would play the match on 17th and hence the back-up plan of St.Kitts and Nevis was dropped.
With India coach Armando Colaco citing jet lag as one of the reasons not to play against Barbados, the AIFF should have taken a note of this when the team began their travel on August 13, instead of 12 due to security concerns raised. The match was eventually shelved.
| Bob Houghton And Racism |
India had played a friendly against Yemen back in September last year wherein there were some words exchanged by Houghton and the fourth referee, Dinesh Nair. There was a complaint lodged in the match commissioner’s report of Nair accusing Houghton of saying,” b****y Indian referees.”
The matter was put on hold as the AIFF never gave it much importance which saddened the concerned referee. However it was almost a month after the end of Asian Cup that the AIFF began to seek legal opinion as to whether they could use this matter to end the contract with the Englishman.
While Houghton did put up a fight denying all the allegations leveled against him, the AIFF continued to pressurize until the coach decided to put in his papers and the latter, in turn, dropped all racism charges against him.
| The Disbandment Of JCT |
Samir Thapar, the managing director of JCT, had blamed the manner in which the sport is run by the AIFF as one of the primary reasons for them shutting shop, in an exclusive interview to Goal.com.
“You need the kind of exposure, the viewership. You have got to rationalize whether it’s worth spending and it doesn’t make any economic sense. If all the matches are shown on TV and there is some mileage, then spending even four crores is justifiable.
“I would rather spend on other sports otherwise. How many do know that an Indian League exists in the first place apart from sports lovers like you and me,” questioned Thapar.
| Special Mention - An 'Ineligible' Sushil |
Thereafter Mohammed Rafi was drafted in at the eleventh hour with Sushil Singh seeing his dream of playing at the Asian Cup being blown away.
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