Mohun Bagan fixture controversy: coach says AIFF has "sold out", official predicts death of I-League
MOHUN BAGAN COACH and officials took aim at the AIFF for refusing to postpone their upcoming match against DSK Shivajians in light of their commitments in Asia.
Mohun Bagan, who beat Tampine Rovers in the first round of the AFC Champions League qualifiers, are scheduled to travel to China to face Shandong Luneng Taishan FC in the second round on 2nd February. They wanted their I-League fixture on 30th January, against DSK Shivajians away from home, to be postponed so that players could recover and prepare for the tough fixture abroad.
But after the win, Bagan coach Sanjay Sen was informed that Saturday's match will go ahead as planned. Sen stormed into the post-match press conference and shared the news with the journalists, accusing the AIFF of not looking out for the interests of Indian football,
"I've told the club officials to look into it, obviously. But it's the AIFF that has to be mindful of these things. This is about Indian football and AIFF must take the lead. An organization has been sold out to somebody here. So what's their purpose? You have to think about all that... we'll go to Pune first and then to China, if something wrong happens, the blame falls on only on the coach! Nobody else takes responsibility."
Mohun Bagan club official Debashish Dutta, too, was furious at the Indian football governing body for making them play 3 matches in 8 days, including two continental fixtures,
"I've tried my best today. I've spoken to Sunanda Dhar for a long time. I tried to make him understand that, footballers are human beings. And India's FIFA ranking will get affected by this match. But they're not ready to change the fixture at any cost. I'm hearing Shaan or somebody will do some song and dance over there, and they've sold tickets for that, that's why they're forcing us to play on Saturday."
When the journalists pointed out that the I-League fixtures were put out more than a month ahead and Mohun Bagan officials neglected to take the issue up with AIFF in the early stages, Dutta replied with a hint of anger and sarcasm,
"Yes, it's all Mohun Bagan's fault. And the biggest fault is winning this match. AIFF isn't happy with us winning this game. If we lost today everybody would be happy."
Dutta pointed out that the AFC Champions League fixtures had been announced two weeks before the release of the I-League fixture list, and it was AIFF who should have taken the Asian commitments into account when making the fixtures in the first place,
"Ask them why they didn't take the ACL into account when making the I-League fixtures. Look, there's no use fighting. They'll blame us, we'll blame them, it's useless... I-League will shut down. Indian football has nothing left of its own. Whatever little we have here, if we can't preserve it, it'll be done."
