Bhaichung Bhutia: Absence of promotion and Relegations system could affect the motivation and hunger among lower Division clubs and Players

by Chittu Shetty August 19, 2016

Like many I-league fans and teams, Indian FA’s Technical Committee chairman Bhaichung Bhutia shared a common notion that absence of promotion and Relegations system in the proposed roadmap could affect the motivation and hunger for better among the proposed 2^nd Division and 3^rd Division team’s i.e. current I-league and 2^nd Division I-league teams.

Non ISL Clubs and players alike, plying their trade at lower leagues would be robbed of any opportunities of playing in the country’s top league. In the AIFF working committee meeting regarding the issues on I-league-ISL merger, Former Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia put forth the point that the promotion-relegation absence meant clubs from lower division would refrain from investing in their teams, which would certainly mean a bad news for their players. This would eventually mean affect on standard of the game from lower down the leagues, which could dent future growth.

Furthur he went on that the there were some resistance to the idea of promotion and relegation because of some contractual obligations. For which suggestions were made that it be included in next two-three years, so that clubs from lower division doesn’t lose their interest and have some motivation in entering the top league, which could correspond in their investments.

Bhaichung bhutia also supported the inclusion of I-league clubs named after city as opposed to clubs named after their owners like Dempo FC or Salgaocar FC.

“I believe those clubs whose names are after the city should get preference as they may strike some chord with the fans as opposed to corporate clubs. They may have the financial backing but that wouldn’t necessarily translate into fans thronging to watch their matches which in turn wouldn’t be good for the league,” he explained.

According to him, there were positive aspects in the original Roadmap drawn in May 17 this year, were almost all the stakeholders of Indian football presented their opinion. Taking football to newer centers, where there is no ISL or I league teams to expand the football’s demography in India. At the end, Bhutia stated that there were few suggestions that were put forward in the meeting which would be further probed in internal discussions.

FootballCounter hopes this issue gets sorted out with mutual discussion among all other stakeholders. The ISL-I league merger saga has been dragging quite a long time now, with Mumbai FC, Salgaocar FC and others reporting to FIFA and AFC regarding these issue, It is important AIFF sort out this mess, before FIFA decide to take any strict action against the federation, which could further affect the game in India.