PANAJI
Goa Football Association (GFA) president Churchill Alemao has justified his action of recommending I-League as the topflight football league in the country to the Committee of Administrators (CoA) of the All India Football Federation.
"As president of the Goa Football Association, my duty is to protect the interest of Goan football. I did just that by pointing out that the definition of senior-most league in the AIFF constitution should remain the way CoA has drafted it," Alemao said in a statement after some Executive Committee members wrote to the CoA to disregard his suggestion as it was "personal" and likely caused a "conflict of interest" as the GFA president owns I-League club Churchill Brothers.
"A league that does not have promotion/relegation or is not managed by the federation cannot do football any good. All over the world, the leagues have promotion/relegation. The non-implementation of promotion and relegation in the top tier league has harmed Goan football.
"The state of Goan football at the moment is a direct reflection of faulty decision that the AIFF took in the past to make ISL (Indian Super League) the top tier, without promotion and relegation. Since there was no promotion and relegation in the top-tier, Goa’s top clubs had to withdraw and we are seeing Goan football suffer for the last six years," Alemao said.
"Dr SY Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India and now the Administrator for AIFF, had put up a tweet inviting suggestions from everyone, including fans, regarding the draft Constitution. Everyone was free to send their suggestions, so why didn’t the members ask to discuss this in the meeting or send the suggestions to the CoA themselves? Don’t they aspire to do something good for Goan and Indian football? And when I made suggestions, they have problems?
"The I-League has been in existence before ISL but has got unfair treatment. I have personally spent my personal wealth to keep my own football club, Churchill Brothers FC, going. I will continue to fight to protect the interest of Goan football. It’s a battle that the late Peter Vaz, owner of Sporting Clube de Goa, was fighting as well. It’s the right fight. Even if some members don’t like this for their own selfish reasons, I will continue to fight," Alemao stated.
