Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
It was disturbing to read on Friday, July 29 that former India captains Bhaskar Ganguly and Manoranjan Bhattacharya have jointly filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against the AIFF in the Supreme Court of India about the national federations so-called neglect of football in India.
The case is set to be heard by the Supreme Court of India in August 2016 with eminent lawyer Prashant Bhushan fighting the case in the name of Bhaskar Ganguly and Manoranjan Bhattacharya.
In the PIL the duo allege that the AIFF has grossly neglected its job to oversee Indian football as a whole in the interest of players, the football clubs and the fans of the beautiful game.
The questions are raised why clubs like JCT, Mahindra United, Chirag United SC, Pailan Arrows, Royal Wahingdoh FC, Pune FC and Kalyani Bharat FC have either shut down or pulled out of the I-League, and why tournaments like the Federation Cup, Durand Cup and Rovers Cup have either been discontinued.
Also Bhaskar Ganguly and Manoranjan Bhattacharya question the role of the AIFF’s marketing partners IMG-Reliance looking after the commercial interests of football in India.
Filing PILs has sadly become a normal way of dealing with matters in Indian sports, a disturbing trend which has led to federations being shut down or becoming dormant or new federations being formed. Even India’s favourite sport has not been able to stay out of this legal mess.
Therefore I ask a different question. Are the former captains in Bhaskar Ganguly and Manoranjan Bhattacharya correct in filing a PIL in Supreme Court alleging AIFF neglect of football in India!
I would say no, then something which I still have not understood with India is that normally the legislations of sports around the world stand above the law of a certain country, meaning any sport is organised through a national federation which is attached to a continental and international body, whose laws are more important than courts in that respective country.
And if there are any issues, then it goes to the Court of Arbitration in Sports (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland like to take a current examples, the Russian athletes wanting to have their doping ban removed to compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Through such a PIL case, if the Supreme Court of India decides against the AIFF and in favour of the two former India captains, then it could mean unwanted involvement by the courts and potential suspension by FIFA and the AFC.
Have Bhaskar Ganguly and Manoranjan Bhattacharya considered this before filing their PIL???
The AIFF has been grossly misruled since Mr. Khalifa Ziauddin’s time. Mr. Praful Patel is the current incumbent who is hell bent in selling the AIFF and Indian football to the baniyas led by Ms. Nita Ambani. What has the ISL franchisees done for the development of grass root footballers in the three years of its existence? Absolutely nothing. Also, the AIFF has gradually killed tournaments like Bandodkar Trophy, Sait Nagjee, the Durand Cup, the Rovers Cup and the DCM trophy which could have been good testing grounds for youngsters who want to enter mainstream competition. There is a difference between the functioning of AIFF and BCCI. BCCI in order to promote IPL has not killed the Ranji Trophy, the Duleep Trophy, Deodhar Trophy or the Vijay Hazare Trophy which are breeding grounds for upcoming cricketers. AIFF is doing just that. In order to promote ISL they are killing whatever competition and clubs that are still surviving. Hence, the litigation. I would want the Supreme Court to appoint somebody like Justice Mudgal to clean up AIFF of dead woods.