Churchill drag AIFF to court

Mumbai: Churchill Brothers have dragged the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to court insisting that the federation had done grave injustice in keeping them out of the I-League, India’s premier football competition.
Churchill Brothers, along with United Sports Club and Mohammedan Sporting, were “knocked out” of the I-League by the AIFF after they failed to meet the stringent Club Licensing criteria.Churchill Brothers had fulfilled 29 of the 42 criteria, but according to licensing rules, a club must mandatorily fulfil all the criteria if they are to continue playing in the I-League.
The club had their appeal rejected by the Appeals Licensing Committee and have now been forced to knock on the doors of justice. The club has filed an appeal with the Delhi High Court and the AIFF has already been served with the notice.
“I don’t have the exact details but have been told by the office that there is a case against us. I will not be able to comment unless I see the papers,” said I-League CEO Sunando Dhar, who was in Mumbai for the Indian Super League’s international player draft on Thursday.
“Churchill Brothers, I am told, have claimed this is a case of injustice and that they have also been punished because they were opposed to the ISL,” said Sunando.
Churchill Brothers CEO Valanka Alemao confirmed they had sought legal re-course but refused to elaborate. “Let the case get listed first. I will definitely speak,” she said.
AIFF general secretary Kushal Das was surprised that Churchill were training their guns at them.
“There is no case of injustice against Churchill Brothers. They were given a time-frame within which they had to fulfil the criteria. They failed, while nine other clubs worked overtime to meet the criteria. If we had made a special consideration for Churchill, it would have been unfair on those clubs who met the criteria,” said Das.
The AIFF general secretary said they had forwarded Churchill’s papers to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for consideration on “sporting merit” but the AFC turned down the appeal.
“The AFC was clear that the I-League would lose its professional status if exceptions were made,” said Das.
Churchill Brothers is a unique family-based professional club, a rarity in world football. The club has been in existence for 25 years and has been playing in the top tier of Indian football -- except for a season when they were relegated -- since the National Football League (NFL) was started in 1996. Churchill have won the I-League twice and finished runner-up three times.