Calcutta: Indian Football Association (IFA) will wait for the new rules and regulations from the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to come in printed form before finalising the Calcutta Football League fixture.
Top officials of all the premier division clubs had met IFA general secretary Utpal Ganguli on Wednesday.
They unanimously opposed the AIFF’s suggestion that no Indian footballer from an I-League club should be allowed to play more than 40 matches in a season. The AIFF also recommended that the clubs would be permitted to recruit only three foreigners for the local league and only two could play in a particular match.
The club representatives were particularly displeased with the fact the rules have been made after the start of the season. “Implementation of the rules is impossible from this year. If the rule stays, we will have to think whether we will play this year’s Calcutta Football League,” said Mohun Bagan secretary Anjan Mitra.
Senior Mohun Bagan official Debashis Dutta had earlier said the new rules would discourage the I-League teams from participating in the local leagues. “These rules should be implemented from the next season,” he felt.
“We have heard of quite few recommendations from AIFF, including the 40-match rule. But we haven’t received anything in written form. We are expecting it to come by the end of this month. Only then we can take decisions on the CFL,” Ganguli said.
“As far as we know, the 40-match rule is an AFC suggestion. Now, we will have to see whether it’s a request from AIFF or a binding. If it’s a binding, we won’t accept it. In that case, it might lead to a direct confrontation. The rule is surely unjustified. It’s damaging for Bengal football,” Ganguli added.
The IFA has already sent a letter to AIFF, requesting the rules be implemented from 2012-2013 season.
There could be some solution to the problem if the I-league teams had played lesser number of matches. But none of teams are interested in it.
“The smaller teams all want to play against Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. Otherwise they won’t get sponsors. On the other hand, the big clubs go for the championship. So they won’t take the league lightly,” said Ganguli.
The club representatives and IFA secretary will again meet on July 11 to finalise the CFL fixture. The signings will start from July 14.
The action committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) had earlier decided that no Indian footballer from an I-League club should be allowed to play more than 40 matches in a season.
“It will automatically stop the main players from playing in the local leagues,” said an AIFF official. “In the present scenario, a club play between 27 to 32 matches in I-League and Federation Cup. If the new rule comes into force, then clubs will be left with no choice but to play with a different set of players in the local league,” he added.
The AIFF action committee comprised of India’s technical director Colin Toal, AIFF vice-president Subrata Dutta, general secretary Kushal Das and I-League CEO Sunando Dhar.
