New Delhi: Is the 61st edition of the Santosh Trophy, to be held over a period of 45 days in Haryana from September 14, proving to be the death-knell for the local leagues in Calcutta and Goa?
If the honorary secretaries of both the state associations are to be believed, then the national championship is going to be leave their league engagements completely ruined, clubs unhappy and sponsors antagonised.
So much so, that the IFA secretary, Subrata Dutta said that he would soon take up the issue with the All India Football Federation president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi. Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: “It is a pity that the federation has scheduled the Santosh Trophy at this time of the year, knowing fully well that the local league in Calcutta is in full swing. No tournament in the world, not even the World Cup is spread over 45 days like this.”
To add to the woe, Dutta said, the ‘sons of the soil’ policy of the federation, which allows other states to call players of the respective states for ‘state duty’ even if they are busy with important club engagements, has come as an absolute spoiler.
“It didn’t matter as long as the Santosh Trophy did not clash with the local league,” said Dutta. “Now my clubs are in a soup. Nearly 20 players of the eight clubs in the Premier Division have been called by different state associations and we are receiving more and more requests daily. Apart from this, the cream of footballers will be in the national camp.
“I can excuse players from doing Bengal duty, but under the rules, we have to release the outstation footballers. With so many top players out, how can the league be run and what am I going to tell the sponsors?” asked Dutta.
The ‘sons of the soil’ rule was brought in 2001 by then AIFF honorary secretary Alberto Colaco, and was widely viewed as an attempt by the Goa-based federation boss to bring an end to Bengal’s domination in Santosh Trophy. Ironically, today the Goa Football Association secretary Savio Messias also feels that the rule should be scrapped.
“Why talk about Bengal? We too have lost more than 15 top players in the middle of our league because of this rule,” Messias said. “By holding the Santosh Trophy in the middle of our league, the federation has ruined our show.”
Messias feels that the federation is totally unsympathetic towards the associations, who have their own activities. “They have no regard for sponsors of our association and clubs and our commitments. Our clubs pay the players, train them in the modern scientific manner, but the states, who do almost nothing throughout the season, snatch the players away without paying a penny.”
Worse, Messias says, is the federation’s calendar. “It undergoes so many changes throughout the year that it is difficult to keep track. It is simply impossible to plan out our own schedule according to the ever-changing AIFF calendar.”
The AIFF secretary, Colaco, when contacted, refused to comment on this issue.
The following is a list of Calcutta Premier Division league players called in by other states:
UP: Wajid Ali (Chirag United) and Jatin Bisht (Mohammedan Sporting).
Punjab: Hardeep Saini (East Bengal), Amandeep Singh (Chirag).
Manipur: Sushil Kumar Singh (Mohun Bagan), Raju Singh (East Bengal).
Jammu and Kashmir: Mehrajuddin Wadao (Mohun Bagan).
Chandigarh: Gurpreet Singh (East Bengal).
Sikkim: Bhaichung Bhutia (Mohun Bagan), Sushil Karthak (Chirag), Bir Bahadur Pradhan (City).
Tamil Nadu: D. Ravanan (Mohun Bagan), K. Kulothungan (Mohammedan Sporting), Raman Vijayan (Mohammedan Sporting).
Railways: Gaurav Dutta, Shankar Das, Subhranil Dutta, Suraj Mondal (Railway FC), Bapan Bera (Eastern Railway).
