With Salgaocar FC and Sporting Clube de Goa jointly declaring their decision to pull out of the I-League and newly promoted Dempo SC also dropping hints of backing out, AIFF secretary Kushal Das will fly down to Goa on July 1 to meet the aggrieved club owners of the three legacy-rich Goan teams to share AIFF's vision on restructuring football and help sustain club football in India.
Basil Sylvester Pinto
Panaji
With apparently no clear indication from the AIFF (All India Football Federation) to the May 17, 2016, proposal to all all stakeholders of football in India, asking for “participation in propelling Indian football forward,” two major Goan football clubs “ Salgaocar Football Club and Sporting Clube de Goa made a painful decision in a joint press statement released on June 24 to withdraw their teams from the forthcoming I-League.
The announcement came as a shock to the football fraternity, particularly in the State passionately
following various home clubs teams. And, with a strong hint dropped by the honcho of Dempo Sports Club, Shrinivas Dempo, that they are likely to follow suit, steps were necessitated to diffuse the tension with AIFF General Secretary, Kushal Das expected to arrive in Goa on July 1 and meet the aggrieved club owners of the three legacy-rich Goan teams.
In The Goan Everyday exclusive, Kushal Das, stated that he will do whatever in his capacity to convince the Goan club owners to stay on in the I-League. “I will explain to them the vision we have about restructuring to sustain club football in India and explain to them that we hope in the
next 5-6 years, to realize the model for all levels of club football in India. Right now everyone is trying to pool in money. Be it the I-League club or be it the ISL club because the whole purpose is to create in the next 5-6 years, a model where whichever league you play, you can sustain yourself. That is the vision. May be there is a misunderstanding with our vision, which I will explain again, he revealed.”
Quizzing Das, on his thoughts on Salgaocar Football Club and Sporting Clube de Goa mentioning in their joint statement to the media that they would be relegated to the second tier and the May 17 proposal does away with promotion and it is bereft of merit with franchisee fee being the prime criteria for participating in the top league, this is what he had to say.
“That is exactly the misunderstanding which they have which is not a question of relegation. There will be a bidding process for the I-League and ISL as well based on sporting criteria, based on ability. When you play in the top league, the budget increases significantly. So all those factors will be there. There will be open bidding which they can participate in. But the only thing they have to consider is that there is already a team in ISL from Goa which is FC Goa which is doing very well. Relegation and promotion is only for a short period of 5-6 years after which everything will be re-opened. By that time, it is our idea that all of the leagues become self-sustainable. So if the team moves from League 1 to the ISL, they will able to sustain themselves. And in the meantime while they are playing League 1, we will be showing all the matches of League 1 live on television. We have given the clubs a minimum guarantee of revenue.”
When asked to detail in on the revenue, he replied that at this juncture it was not decided. “A proposal would be made and all these things need to be worked out," the AIFF General Secretary stated.
“So the model is that within 5-6 years, all clubs playing at each of the different tiers will be a self-
sustainable, revenue-generating model,” he revealed while looking at the bigger picture.
"I will be very saddened if they leave because their contribution to Indian football is significant," he stated with hope of their reconsideration to a return to the I-League fold.
When told that another prestigious Goan team, Dempo Sports Club are likely to opt out from I-League participation as well, Das disclosed that Mr. (Shrinivas) Dempo, will also be present at the meeting with the other two club owners (Shivanand Salgaocar and Peter Vales) as well, when he meets them in the State on July 1 to discuss their concerns with the AIFF proposal and to amicably address the same.
When this reporter pointed out that in the I-League, Goa has the best representation and as such it will affect the State more than any other in the forthcoming edition of the country’s premier tournament, Das while agreeing with the statement had this to add:“While that is very much true, we also have to remember that unfortunately spectator attendance in Goa has gone down dramatically for the I-League. On the other hand, for the ISL, for FC Goa there are a lot of people who come. We must look at all these things and understand what is happening. So that is the whole purpose of the meeting (July 1),” Das emphasized.
With I-League clubs, compared to ISL clubs, unlikely to raise the franchisee fee in a restructured league, Das refuted on the aspect raised as unimportant. “I think franchisee fee is not the
important thing. What is important is to be able to create a sustainable model to play in the ISL or
League 1 or League 2. There are other costs besides the franchisee fee for playing in the ISL. The
operating costs go up; the play budget is about Rs 20 crore. So everything goes up. It is not only the
franchisee fee,” Das reiterated.
Replying to another query, Das stated that they are looking to have between 10-12 clubs in each of the three tiers.
