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Dutta defies AIFF

Amal Dutta evokes differing responses. Mostly negative, because of circumstances. For one thing, he is not as loquacious as his contemporary, Padma Shri P K Banerjee. Dutta, like Banerjee and others, has been in the limelight as coaches of either Mohun Bagan or East Bengal or Mohammedan Sporting. Dutta also has claimed to be a fully professional coach, devoting all his time and energies to making his living from coaching, perhaps a sly hint that the others are less committed.

His involvement, and perception of his responsibilities to his team and its performance, perhaps caught him on the wrong foot when, at Salt Lake Stadium, his dissent with the organisers deprived about 10,000 spectators -- more than 12 times as many at the same venue had watched Dutta coaching Mohun Bagan in the Calcutta League against East Bengal last July -- of getting their money's worth at the Churchill Brothers versus East Bengal match in the Phillips National Football league.

Dutta was provoked into not letting Churchill Brothers take the field against East Bengal because of the ball that was to be used for the match. The local organisers, the Indian Football Association, supplied a Cosco ball. Dutta protested that the official ball for the matches in the national leagues was the Umbro make, with which the first edition of the national league was prayed last season.

International referee K Shankar from Tamil Nadu, who reached Calcutta too late to attend a customary managers' meeting that was ultimately not held, tried his best to start the match. He waited for about three quarters of an hour, an unduly long period, for Dutta and Churchill Brothers to relent and agree to play. But all in vain, as Dutta and his team stuck to their guns.

Interestingly, an initial report said that India coach P K Banerjee supported Dutta's stand. Subsequently, however, Banerjee is reported to have said that refusing to play on such a ground was unacceptable.

Not all are satisfied with the way the National League is being conducted. But few raise their voices in protest. Thus, if for nothing else, Dutta must be Iauded for his courage in bringing the issue of the match ball into the open. He pointed out on behalf of his team that the president of the All India Football Federation, Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmushi, had announced at the inaugural match of this edition of the National League in Delhi last month -- which featured Jagatjit Cotton and Textile Mills, the defending champions, against Churchill Brothers in front of President K R Narayanan, a game the latter lost -- that the matches would be played with Umbro balls. Dutta also pointed out that in the two matches at the same venue earlier, Umbro balls were used. In fact, in the F C Kochin versus East Bengal make, the game began with the wrong ball, but was replaced with an Umbro.

The technical director, former international midfielder Armando Colaco, and the manager, Mr Alex Rebello, of Churchill Brothers alleged something of a conspiracy in the choice of the Cosco ball for their match against East Bengal. Their team has been practising with Umbro balls and therefore, to be forced to play with a different make of ball, which perhaps their opponents may have been practising with, was unfair. Besides, it was not as though Umbro balls were not available with the local organisers, since the previous two games at the venue, as pointed out, had been played with balls of that make.

What further caused confusion was the very casual announcement, just ten minutes before the game, that a Cosco ball was going to be used for the game instead of the one agreed upon.

It is learnt that the AIFF secretary, Mr Kedar Nath Mour, has since decreed that henceforth, games will be played with whatever make of ball is supplied by the local organisers.

The entire episode also serves to highlight the lackadaisical approach of the AIFF to the organisation of the National League. Last season they had signed a contract with Umbro for supply of balls for the matches, as also to the teams for practice (22 per team, it is learnt), besides the kitting out of eight teams, at considerable expense to the sponsors. It is possiblle that the sponsor was not happy with the mileage they got out of the deal, and hence did not renew the contract.

Whatever, the reason for Umbro's withdrawal, the AIFF would have been aware of it well in time, definitely well before the start of the second edition of the National League. Hence the AIFF should have informed the teams -- the additional teams are Mohun Began and F C Kochin -- of the termination of the contract. And the corollary that neither the Umbro balls nor of any other make is the official ball for the National League.

This little transparency and foresight would have averted the fiasco, besides a likely legal battle between the Goa League champions and the AIFF, wasteful expenditure on the team's travel and stay for an away match.

Worse, throwing mud on Dutta's face has only exposed the unprofessional approach to modern football. Especially the AIFF and their top brass, who, to have their way in trivial matters, cite Federation International de Football Association and Asian Football Confederation's advice in response to letters, the contents of which are not made public. Like for instance, the entry of FC Kochin to the Kalyani Black Label (formerly Federation) Cup, which is essentially an invitation event and not one for league champions of the states.

FIFA, since 1970, have been selecting the ball to be used in the final rounds of the World Cup, and supplying an adequate stock of it to the teams that have qualified, between six to eight months in advance. But how do the AIFF deal with this essential for a National League? Wait for a dispute and a controversy to attract a likely legal battle and disruption of an elaborate schedule fitted in a congested calendar!

K Bhaskaran