AIFF in a fix over I-League as Churchill Bros case drags

Panaji: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has called for a I-League meeting in Delhi on Monday but cannot announce either the participating teams or fixtures.
Churchill Brothers, who were “relegated” due to their failure to meet the strin-gent Club Licensing Criteria, have dragged the federation to court and there are instructions from the High Court in Delhi that the fixtures should not be finalized until a verdict is pronounced.
“That’s how it is at the moment. We are hoping there will be clarity soon,” AIFF general secretary Kushal Das told TOI.
The AIFF expects to start the next edition of the I-League on January 17, 2015, a week after the conclusion of the Federation Cup in Goa. But should Chur-chill’s case continue to drag -- the case first came up for hearing on September 1 -- the AIFF may be forced to do a rethink on India’s premier football com-petition.
“We are having a I-League meeting where all participating clubs will be pres-ent. We have to discuss the new regulations, broadcast, promotion and public-ity. We are introducing new rules for this I-League season and the clubs need to be briefed,” said I-League CEO Sunando Dhar, adding that with about two months still to go for the competition to kick off, they were hopeful of a solu-tion.
Churchill’s case is set to come up for hearing later this week.
The former I-League champions had filed a writ petition against the AIFF in the Delhi High Court and were bolstered after the judge issued a notice to the federation asking them to be “more inclusive for the welfare of sport in the country.”
Since then the AIFF have changed their lawyer and placed on record that Churchill were not the only side that got the boot for their failure to meet the criteria. Other clubs who were “relegated” include United Sports Club, Rang-dajied United and Mohammedan Sporting, who were anyway marked to play in the Second Division I-League after finishing at the bottom of the 13-team group.
Churchill -- who are backed by the Goa Football Association -- have also ob-jected to the points that were allotted to them during the club licensing inspections. The Goan club fulfilled 29 of the mandatory 42 A criteria of the Indian Club Licensing Regulations and said the assessment was not done fairly.
Abhishek.Ganguly@timesgroup.com