League gropes in the dark

Merely two days before the start of the I-League, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi painted a very sorry figure of Indian soccer.
Little over 17 months since FIFA president Joseph Blatter's first official visit to India (April 2007) with an apparent vision to take India to the next level, Football Federation president Dasmunshi and secretary Alberto Colaco were caught on the wrong foot during a press conference to launch the second I-League in Delhi on Wednesday.
Underprepared stadiums, shoddy preparation, a league committee sans a CEO and a hilarious fixture were some of the issues that emerged at a time when Indian football's bigwigs are talking about professionalism.
Leave alone "experimental" matches at the Cooperage in Mumbai, the fixtures abruptly end after the first leg. The reason for the 45-day break between the two halves of the I-League is another tournament (Federation Cup from December 4-23) and a national camp (January 2-10).
Other issues downplayed by Dasmunshi were selecting Barasat as a venue over the international class Salt Lake Stadium for five matches in the first leg, including the opener on September 26 between East Bengal and Chirag United. "Deployment of police is a problem at the Salt Lake Stadium", was all that Dasmunshi would say, without explaining how security arrangement would be any easier at Barasat, considering the fact that both areas are under West Bengal Police.
Dasmunshi added that similar arrangements were in place for the matches in Mumbai too. DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai is the "most expensive" option, and even Kolhapur is being considered as alternate venues to Cooperage. Colaco revealed that matches could be transferred to "neutral venues." He neither wanted to name these venues nor explain the reason why matches would be required to play there.
Sponsor of the I-League, oil major ONGC has also cut down the total expenditure from Rs 7 to 6 crore. This has been attributed to the "global oil crisis". However, the league will have prize money of Rs 10 lakh for the fourth-best team. The winners will take home Rs 50 lakh, the runners-up Rs 28 lakh and the third team Rs 20 lakh. The total prize money will be Rs 1.25 crore this year. The 132-match league is expected to be over in April.
Whether it was financial support for the clubs who need it, scholarship for footballers or infrastructural support for the national team that has qualified for the 2011 Asia Cup after 24 years, the AIFF president is urging corporate houses to come forward. He revealed that a separate project has been launched for the Asia Cup and a deal is expected to be clinched by next week with a corporate major in this regard, though he refused to divulge details on the progress.
When asked about the 400,000 USD grant announced by Blatter for India last year, in addition to the 1 million USD grant that every associate member gets, Dasmunshi said: "The FIFA grant is for separate purposes such as astro-turfs and getting foreign coaches and professionals."
Dasmunshi was rather candid in admitting that spotting talent, introducing football in schools and similar measures were not among the federation's concerns. He though talked about the federation's optimism about following the ‘EPL module' in conducting the I-League! There are miles to go, of course.
Blatter had talked about his motto ‘Win in India with India' and had also reemphasized India's growing importance in this part of the world. The Asian Football Confederation president Mohammad Bin Hammam had talked about how India played a crucial part in his Vision Asia project. And together, they had talked about the AIFF following their vision to lead India to the 2018 World Cup.
On Wednesday, the AIFF president asked the media "not to expect what Japan could achieve in three years from India in even five years". The second I-League would be on the AFC radar. If the AIFF fails to conduct the league professionally, following guidelines laid down by them, it may cost the country a Champions League berth. The AFC Challenge Cup heroics by Bob Houghton and his bravehearts will only go down the drain.