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AIFF waffles on F C Kochy issue

K Bhaskaran

There's more to All India Football Federation president Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi's explanation of FC Kochy's entry for the Kalyani Black Label Federation Cup tournament not being entertained than meets the eye. He has sought to deflect criticism of the decision by citing the advice of the Federation Internationale de Football Association.

There is a feeling among some that the decision to bar FC Kochy may have been influenced by teams wary of the challenge of the star-studded new club, particularly those who have had a hard time of competing for honours in the major events of the country. This may be far-fetched.

Yet the fact that till the eleventh hour there was no indication of the AIFF not having FC Kochy in the draw for the tournament does cause the raising of eyebrows. The Kerala Football Association secretary K Bodhanandan's outburst against the AIFF sort of substantiates the feeling that all is not above board.

For if the AIFF had either decided to not take teams who had not played in the local leagues or had doubts about taking such teams and had sought the advice of FIFA, then this must have been conveyed to the Kerala FA and other state associations, especially Rajasthan FA, whose Tiger Club, and Chandigarh FA, whose Khalsa Sports were also denied entry on similar grounds, that they would have to await an all-clear before sending in the entries of these teams.

Obviously, this the AIFF did not do. If the AIFF had, then there would have been no need to ask Kerala, Rajasthan and Chandigarh to name alternate teams.

If the AIFF awaits a ruling or advice of FIFA for what is essentially an internal matter, namely entry to a tournament under its jurisdiction, the corollary would be for district bodies to look up to state bodies and for the state bodies to look up to the AIFF in such matters. That is, the body that conducts local events will be guided by its parent body. This would mean putting the ball in the other's court, and a total abdication of responsibility.

In such an eventuality, administration down the line cannot claim much credit for competence. It will come to pass that the very raison d'etre of such bodies could be questioned. Not a good situation for the game, by any yardstick.

Two other issues arise out of Dasmunshi's citing of the FIFA advice. One is, why the AIFF had not sought the advice of FIFA in more serious matters, like if there are any exceptions for international transfers and about players being allowed to assist their new clubs while the transfers are being processed. Salgaocar, it is learnt, wanted to protest against Nigerian Chima Okerie assisting East Bengal in the first leg of the Philips National League earlier this year. The Goa club official had overheard an AIFF top brass - not Dasmunshi - admonishing some officials for letting Okerie play without the necessary clearance in hand.

If the allegation against Chima being allowed to play before his transfer had been obtained were true, then he and East Bengal had committed a serious breach, for which they should have been penalised.

The other issue is against the convention that FIFA assiduously follows. That is, a policy of non-interference in internal affairs of an affiliate. Thus, long before FIFA itself changed to three points for a win in the 1990 World Cup in Italy, many countries, notably the erstwhile Soviet Union, followed that points system in their domestic leagues. Some even had extra time and shoot-outs to eliminate draws in league encounters - without reference to FIFA.

Again, while FIFA laid down that two yellow cards in a competition would be penalised with a bar against playing in the next match, many European countries had different systems for disciplinary measures. In England, a yellow card entailed a penalty points system according to the gravity of the offence, and only when a player's tally reached 12 and was confirmed after appeal by the player, did he have to stand down from the next match. In Germany a player had to stand down only if he had been shown three yellow cards.

FIFA leaves it to individual national associations the task of framing rules even for such issues in their domestic football. So, it is hard to believe that FIFA will frown on a national association if a newly formed team of current internationals were permitted to play in a major competition. The sneaking feeling is that the AIFF president is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of followers of the game in this country. One has to wait and see if, as per FIFA's advice, FC Kochy are told to qualify from the lowest divisions to the premier division in Kochy before being allowed to play in the national league.

It is also strange that all these rulings and explanations come from the AIFF president, and not from the AIFF secretary, Kedar Nath Mour, a former FIFA referee and secretary of the Assam Football Association. It is to be wondered if it is proper for the AIFF president, instead of the AIFF secretary, to seek clarifications from FIFA. One also wonders if FIFA has been informed of the change of office-bearers of the AIFF and of the new address of the AIFF secretariat. In any case the AIFF president, a politician and administrator of many years' standing, cannot be unaware of the demarcation of the duties to be performed by the president and the secretary.

Indeed, if the AIFF secretary carries on correspondence with FIFA, and also the Asian Football Confederation as should be the practice, instead of the AIFF president taking on, or rather appropriating, this function, the standing and image of the AIFF and FIFA and AFC would be respectable. As things are, FIFA and AFC could wonder if the AIFF does have a secretary and a secretariat to keep the communication lines open. This in today's world of advanced communication technology like fax, e-mail and Internet!