Two days after the football Regulatory Commission slapped a Rs 11 crore fine and a ban on the owners of a Goan football team, an official who claimed to be close to the team management (this could not be verified at the time of going to the Press or after) said, the only way for Goa United to cough up the money is by getting into politics.
The decision to go into politics was arrived at after a power point presentation made by a leading member of a political party titled, “How to build football grounds and become rich’. It is learnt that the management is now considering a merger with any political party which can mix sports with politics and come out smelling like roses.
Prior to taking the plunge into politics the management had considered going into the third edition of the ISL without a coach to save money. But it was shot down because the team needs someone to blame if things went wrong.
The team also considered the option of taking a bank loan and not repaying it, but it was abandoned after Vijay Mallya reportedly (not confirmed) refused to come on board as a consultant.
In the last two days, several political outfits have expressed interest in teaming up with Goa United to fight the next elections, but none have come up with a Rs 11 crore offer that the club cannot refuse.
Despite this setback, Goa United decided to explore the possibility of a tie up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which is presently battling pollution in New Delhi. Unfortunately, talks broke down after a spokesman for AAP told Goa United that the party would consider the proposal only if odd number of players were allowed to play on Mondays and even number on Tuesdays and so on and so forth, ad nauseam.
Top officials of the club also got in touch with ‘Goa Forward’ to entice it into a tie-up for the forth coming elections, but the idea had to be abandoned after it was discovered that the party was more interested in coconuts than football. As one club member put it, “there are more coconuts in this party than on all the trees in Goa.”
Following the failure of negotiations with two parties and with the week-end fast approaching it was suggested that the club open talks with the Congress. This plan came a cropper on account of some confusion, with some club members rooting for talks with grandfathers of the party and another opting for negotiations with the grandsons. It was finally decided to wait till the party sorted out its demographic issues.
With no solution in sight and with desperation setting in, club members finally decided to approach the UGDP for a tie up. Unconfirmed sources said these negotiations broke down because the party demanded Rs 11 crore.
It is learnt that the BBSM was also approached for seat adjustment (not in the stadium) but plans had to be put on hold after BBSM members made it clear that they were interested in playing politics, not football.
With nowhere to go, the inner circle decided to turn to the GBA, but this hit a dead end after a member of the GBA said the organization would first have consult the grassroots and include people in a bottom-top process, at least twice, before arriving at a conclusion.
The failure of the club to hitch its bandwagon to a political party has left top bosses in a state of shock and one of them is reported to have shouted, “Now, I really feel like punching someone.”
