#TFGtake: AIFF's threats of delaying merger & running ISL/I-League in parallel are a pressure tactic to enforce IMG-R's agenda
THE AIFF IS THREATENING to hold off the merger of I-League and ISL in order to make East Bengal and Mohun Bagan toe the line proposed by IMG-Reliance in the proposed re-structuring of the Indian football league system.
The Kolkata clubs met AIFF President Mr Praful Patel in Mumbai today with a few grievances, including the demand of a steep Rs 15 crore franchise fee by IMG-Reliance to let EB and MB play in the ISL after the merger. They also wanted to appeal to the AIFF President not to displace them from their home city of Kolkata, where they have resided and grown the football culture for over a century.
Atletico de Kolkata, thanks to their contract with IMG-R, are claiming exclusivity over Kolkata and have demanded that East Bengal and Mohun Bagan should play from elsewhere if they join the revamped ISL.
But unsurprisingly, Mr Praful Patel merely mirrored the viewpoint of AIFF's commercial partners, and tried a roundabout way to put pressure on the clubs by saying that the merger between ISL and I-League may be postponed.
To the media, the AIFF president merely repeated an old line,
"I-League is the official league of the country. ISL will be a tournament."
According to a Mohun Bagan official, the AIFF president failed to answer correctly the winner of which competition would get to play in the AFC Champions League. Mr Patel apparently evaded the question by saying he would decide that after the AFC Congress in Bahrain. This is especially irregular since AFC only allows the official league winners an entry into the continental championship; it would suggest either Mr Patel is not familiar with basic AFC rules or he was dropping a passive-aggressive hint that I-League may not remain the official league after all.
Soon afterwards, an AIFF "source" leaked to the press the idea that ISL and I-League would run in parallel for the next few years instead of the two being merged; a move aimed to put even more pressure on the I-League clubs.
Minutes later, the AIFF released a toned-down non-statement via a press release, which went like this,
"Mr. Patel informed the representatives that the revised roadmap of India football has not yet been finalised and before a final decision is taken, stakeholders including the Asian Football Confederation would be consulted. Indian football has made rapid progress over the last few years and it's important for AIFF to take a long term view. The AIFF has been in discussion with AFC and will do what's in the interest of Indian football."
All this points to the possibility that AIFF, in the end, is trying to push the agenda of IMG-Reliance rather than taking a neutral stand and possibly being a mediator. Their high rhetoric can also be seen as a response to the rogue and completely unfounded statements by IFA secretary Utpal Ganguly who threatened to start a parallel league to I-League and ISL with major clubs from Kolkata, Goa and North-East India.
With the Kolkata clubs sticking to their demands and Aizawl FC threatening to launch a public movement if they are forcefully relegated, AIFF and IMG-Reliance are looking to build counter-pressure on the I-League clubs by taking an aggressive stance against them. Unofficially floating the idea of ISL and I-League running in parallel is aimed at making I-League clubs fear that they would lose most of their players to the high budget ISL franchises. But this idea is unlikely to fly with AFC, who wish for a full merger between the two competitions in question.
A decision on the merger must be taken by June in order to let clubs carry out their transfer business with clarity. With the clock ticking, the merger negotiations have become a staring contest between I-League clubs and the AIFF-IMGR power axis, and at this moment neither side seems to be be close to blinking.
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