5. A Fiery Argument

5. A Fiery Argument

The only person in the meeting who expressed concern over the implementation of promotion-relegation in the Indian football league system was Mr Raghu Iyer, who was the CEO of ATK FC at that time. He said,

"Firstly, if one does get relegated, how does one get back? That is one question. And currently ISL teams... there's a significant amount of investments, like what we were just discussing, going not only into the ISL but into the development activity as well. So if one does get relegated, I just wanted to know what are the props that we're gonna come back in. There's a significant amount of investment that's going into the development as well."

In response, it was explained to him that the way to get back up to the top division league was down to sporting merit; that the club that got relegated would play in the second tier where they could win their way back up; as was common practice the vast majority of the football leagues around the world.

Mr Windsor John spoke further on when sporting merit would become the only criteria in Indian football,

"Once we start year six, there's no participating fee. Sporting merit. You know, sporting merit simply means position in the league... but there will not be any more other considerations, financial considerations. Purely sporting merit. And you fulfill the licensing or whatever... no other new criteria or new regulation that will forbid you from going up." 

Here, Mr Ranjit Bajaj joined in on the conversation,

"So coming back to my earlier point, I just want to know, how was consideration taken of relegating one complete league right now, on not sporting merit? The entire league, by the way, has been relegated, by this deicision, and we've got ten clubs for the next two years who have no chance of getting in, for no fault of theirs, even though they are better than some of the ISL clubs."

Mr Windsor John replied,

"We have the AFC Champions League. The AFC Champions League simply means that the best players must play in our competition. So we want to protect the AFC Champions League, having top players playing in the Champions League. You make the calculations. Who is playing in the competition?"

Mr Bajaj responded,

"Exactly! Don't you think there should be a playoff and the best team should go forward?"

This, it must be pointed out, is not some wild idea that he came up with out of the blue. In fact, in the AFC-FIFA roadmap report, there was a suggestion to move the AFC slots to the Super Cup during the transition period. This would allow both the I-League and ISL teams to play each other to earn those slots in Asia until the new league system was fully instituted.

The AFC Secretary General answered,

"I feel personally the top players of the league in that country, where the top players are playing, should play in our competition. We are also protective of our competition. We have an obligation to other teams. Japan, China don't want to play with a club that has got no national players... so you need to understand. That's why I said, every point there, we have also made a lot of considerations... you have to understand where we are coming from. We have an obligation to our partner as well, that India is represented by the top players as well."

The conversation was turning into an argument between the two. Mr Bajaj said,

"So sporting merit doesn't count?... Sporting merit means the best team goes. It does not mean stars go."

Mr Windsor John replied,

"I'm talking about the best team from the premier league."

Ranjit Bajaj pressed further,

"So how do you decide the premier league? By sporting merit or who has the most money?"

Mr Windsor John responded,

"When we presented earlier, there is a slide that says we have received... the information from AIFF."

At this point the discussion devolved into an actual heated argument. Ranjit Bajaj claimed that the facts presented by AIFF to AFC were incorrect. He went onto say, over objections from others, that the I-League covered more states than the ISL, and pointed out that every player in the national team at that time got there by playing in the I-League. He also went on a tangent about the FIFA rankings under the old formula being manipulated by teams, which the Secretary General strongly objected to. When things calmed down a bit, Mr Windsor John continued,

"We all understand all your role in Indian football. Whatever you have put in, we all understand that. But today, for us at AFC, it's where are they playing. You've produced them... I mean every club is going to say, look, we produced. At one time Arsenal never produced any players. They only bought players... professional football is making a strong team. You must understand that. It's about performance. It's about commercialization. It's an industry."

Mr Bajaj, however, was not about to let go so easily. Even afterwards he brought this point back up,

"If they want to be the top league, they should compete. And if they are able to beat us on the field, that is the only way it should become the top league."

He was backed up by Mrs Henna Singh Bajaj, the Director of Minerva Academy and his wife, who was also present at the meeting. She said,

"Sir, it's very easy to look forward when you've got absolutely nothing to lose and you're gaining everything. You're saying that everybody's chipped in, but it looks like all the chipping has been done on the I-League clubs' end."

Mr Windsor John responded,

"No... we've given a sporting reason for you to qualify into the premier league."

But Mrs Bajaj reiterated her stance,

"Sir, do you really think that I-League clubs will be able to survive for the next five years given the circumstances? Given the fact that the league is supposed to start in the next twenty days and we don't even know the fixtures or the broadcasters or anything at all? How will we survive for the next five years? We will surely die... so you're ready to sacrifice the I-League clubs?"

Here, it should be noted that while in the years leading up to this meeting, many I-League clubs either folded or withdrew from the national league, after this roadmap was presented not a single one has withdrawn or shut down. One reason behind this may be the pathway that the clubs have been provided to get promoted to the ISL, which kicks in from the 2022-23 season.