I-League staring at eternal damnation as AIFF looks to “progress” Indian football

While “Hell” has a different connotation in various religious books, the most relatable I have come across was the one they portrayed in a  TV show called "The Preacher". Apart from the strange and stringent rules of the dark and twisted place, the series perfectly captured the utter despair of the prisoners who are forced to revisit their worst memory again and again in a loop for perpetuity.

However, Minerva Punjab owner, Ranjit Bajaj, told Sportscafe that while relegating I-League to a second division would be hurting, the clubs could still live with that. “NEROCA is reiterating the same point that Dempo, Salgaocar, and Sporting Club de Goa did. What’s the point of investing money and reaching the first division when it becomes the second division next year for no fault of ours?”

I-League’s union has asked for a unified league - a plan that looked impeccable to the football fans as it accommodated all the troubled clubs and, more importantly, to see the much-needed eight month long league. Becoming a world power in football necessitates the players to play 40-45 matches, which very much demands for a 20-team league playing 38 league matches apart from the six-seven cup matches. India, so far, are limited to play 20-22 games in that place.

But, only if identifying the problem was the end of it. Modern problems need modern solution and the realities are created accordingly.  As per the “contract”, ten clubs cannot be included in the elite league at a time. 

This rightly points to the hell I-League clubs would be stuck in. “You can’t just say that a club can get relegated to the third division but won’t be promoted to the first division even if they top their league,” lamented Bajaj.

“Big clubs like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal will survive but smaller clubs like us, Aizawl FC, or NEROCA for that matter, will struggle. The matches won’t be broadcasted as it will be second division and we won’t have sponsors. Who will be willing to spend money and take it all over the country when there will be no sponsors? Players won’t be willing to play and so will be the foreigners. It will be very difficult to sustain,” Bajaj added.

The corporate can’t be blamed for their motive either . A wealthy businessman with an ambition to better Indian football would invest in the future, where the biggest of stars would come to play and coach, making it a win-win situation where they get the money and Indian football gets visibility on the world map.

As Rick Warren had once said, “We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it”. And while I-League is the forest that kept sustaining the love for the game in the country, they are the greenery which needs to be killed and buried to pave the cement for Indian football’s future.