A football match in progress. A Telegraph picture

Ranchi, May 15: Good news for footballers and lovers of the game. In all likelihood, football leagues may resume in the district after a gap of one year.

The soccer leagues played in Ranchi district, which have been suspended since one year due to the internal bickering in the Chhotanagpur Athletic Association (CAA), may restart, shortly.

The newly elected office-bearers of CAA, in a recent meeting, have decided to restart the leagues latest by June 10.

If the plans of resuming the matches bear fruit, CAA would also organise inter-district football tournament, to be played for the first time in the city, by the end of August.

In the past, the inter-district soccer championship has been organised in various districts such as Lohardaga, Gumla and others. Registration of clubs for the league matches would commence from May 17, CAA sources said.

The super league matches had to be suspended from December last year when six-odd teams boycotted the matches alleging that the then CAA officials facilitated entry of a few teams to the league through unfair means.

But it snowballed into a controversy when the dissident footballers and members of various soccer clubs raised a voice of protest against the practice. They also demanded holding of elections to the sports body, which had not been held for more than 10 years, immediately.

The protest led to Ranchi deputy commissioner Pradeep Kumar, also the president of the association, to hold the CAA elections on April 23. The dissident group emerged victorious in the polls.

The newly elected CAA members said the registration of clubs would start from May 17 and would continue till May 31, and unregistered teams would not be entitled to participate in the leagues. The league would start by June 10 irrespective of the number of clubs register, they added.

CAA treasurer Asif Nayeem said: ?During the tenure of N. Hoda, the then general secretary of the association, registration fee was Rs 1,500. But, we have slashed it to Rs 1,200 to provide the participating teams financial relief. We are also holding dialogues with JAP-1 officials to allow us to use their ground for the matches.?