Harsh facts too much for AIFF: protest banner taken down at Kanteerava
THE POTENTIAL FORCEFUL RELEGATION of multiple top division clubs as the private tournament ISL merges with I-League later this year has always been an uncomfortable topic for AIFF officials, and they have cowtowed around it whenever pressed on the issue.
Not long ago, I-League CEO Sunando Dhar repeatedly dodged questions when TFG asked him about it. In the past, AIFF President Praful Patel drew a lot of controversy when he belittled I-League clubs' sufferings due to the merger potentially disenfranchising them.
So on Saturday night, when Bengaluru FC fan club West Block Blues took a stand against the forceful relegation of clubs it was too much to bear for AIFF and they intervened to have a banner removed from the stands at Kanteerava Stadium.
The banner in question put forth a simple truth. It said,
"All I-League clubs + ISL = Merger
3 I-League clubs + ISL = Murder"
And @WestBlockBlues have a message for the #Indianfootball authorities on the final game day in #bangalore #BFCvCB pic.twitter.com/Pirgvb4Nj7
— Naveen Peter (@peterspeaking) April 29, 2017
The banner, visible on the main camera during the match, allegedly irked some of the higher ups in the Federation and soon they took steps to have it removed.
@praful_patel called @ParthJindal11 and asked for the ISL banner to be taken off 😂😂 @bengalurufc @WestBlockBlues @fni @IndianFootball
— Mandeep Bhatia (@mannydevil2508) April 29, 2017
The reason they cited for pulling the flag down was that it "violated branding guidelines," with no further explanation regarding how fans speaking out on a real issue surrounding Indian football concerns, let alone violates the "branding" of I-League.
@peterspeaking @visheprasad 'Branding guidelines' were violated it seems. Threatened with fines to club if we didnt. They want even fans to be 'corporate stooges"
— Anup Menon (@menonkid) April 29, 2017
The tension surrounding this upcoming move has been rising steadily over the last month. East Bengal and Mohun Bagan have been negotiating a deal with ISL and the details have steadily leaked to the press, which is not how AIFF and IMG-Reliance wanted it to go. And with Aizawl FC on the verge of winning the I-League, their owner Robert Royte has threatened legal action if the Mizoram club is forcefully relegated.
It appears that someone in the AIFF could not handle a reminder of the harsh reality during a vanilla last round fixture in the I-League season.
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