Junior was a victim of woeful infrastructure

Calcutta: Stung by the criticism following the death of Cristiano de lima Junior in the Federation Cup final, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) seems to have woken up from its slumber and is planning to make available better medical facilities at football grounds across the country.

In the few steps talked about here Saturday, AIFF president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi said: ?We?ll make it mandatory that the match commissioner will give the green signal for the start only after he is satisfied with the presence of a qualified doctor at the ground during the forthcoming National Football League matches.?

In further steps talked about, a meeting between the football associations of Bengal (IFA) and Goa (GFA), along with representatives of top clubs from that region and the AIFF has been arranged in New Delhi on Monday. These two regions have been selected because they have the maximum football clubs of any region in the country.

On the basis of the outcome of this meeting, other associations will be invited at a later date to formulate proper guidelines.

Das Munshi, though, was quick to point out the lack of proper infrastructure, the unavailability of sponsors and the semi-professional set-up which he thought were acting as ?hindrance?. Das Munshi, incidentally has been at the helm of affairs at the AIFF for the past 15 years and has been re-elected unopposed for another term.

?For a doctor to be associated with every club team all through the year is not feasible, because that will require more funds.

?However, we?ll try and explore this idea during the forthcoming National League,? he said.

He said that during international matches a ?mini hospital? is set up at all venues, though, it wasn?t possible to have the same during domestic meets.

He also made it clear that Subrata Pal?s ?physical presence? at the disciplinary committee meeting on December 27 was ?essential?.

The AIFF is also in talks with ESPN and Doordarshan for telecast of NFL matches and a positive response was likely.