By Mark Baber
October 21 – The executive committee of the 123-year old Mohammedan Sporting Club, a Kolkota club with a glorious history, made the decision on Saturday to disband their football team for an indefinite period after failing to find a sponsor and being unable to pay salaries to players and coaching staff for the last 3 – 4 months.
The decision to close the club undoubtedly comes at a sensitive time, as the All India Football Federation devotes its efforts to starting a new league – the Indian Super League (ISL), effectively run by two American companies, with eight new franchise clubs in obvious competition to the existing I-League teams.
The club’s coach Tope Ayodeji Fuja told local media “I have not been paid for last three months and if they pay me my money I am going home.
The Mohammedan president and MP Sultan Ahmed stated, “We will make the club ready and develop the infrastructure and we will participate in 2nd Division I-League next year”.
Mohammedan Sporting Club was founded in 1887 as the Jubilee Club, changing its name in 1891 and is one of the most popular football clubs in India, famous for its black and white shirts and with a support base across much of the country. For decades the club has been known as one of the Big Three of Indian football, along with Mohun Bagan and East Bengal.
Indian Football Association president Subrata Dutta said, “So far, we have no information. If this happens, it will be unfortunate. Mohammedan Sporting is one club that has a pan-India support base and any decision like this is sad.”
Mohammedan Sporting Club was the first Indian club to win the Calcutta Football League continuously for five years from 1934 to 1938 and in 1941 became the first Indian team to break the monopoly of the British football teams in the Durand Cup, the oldest football tournament in India.
Despite recent successes on the field of play, the club faced problems from the new licensing system put in place by the AIFF.
The role of the new ISL in the death of Mohammedan will be a controversial issue, with senior football writer Rupayan Bhattacharya having recently said: “If the cash-rich franchise-based ISL survives for five years, it will kill the I-League. The ISL and I-League will eventually merge. Why Mohammedan Sporting, even East Bengal and Mohun Bagan will be in trouble.”
Dutta, who is also the AIFF senior vice-president, disagrees saying: “I-League will remain the flagship tournament of India. FIFA is very clear about that. ISL is not yet threatening the I-League. It never will. Mohammedan Sporting’s case is unique. Football clubs around the world get their own sponsors and are not profit-making associations. It’s how you sell your brand name.”
The ISL declares its mission to be to “engender an entertaining and high quality football league that engages hundreds of millions of fans, drives improvement in playing standards and delivers value for all partners.”
Meanwhile FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke insists the ISL, which calls itself a league and is organised on a league basis, with each team playing each other team home and away is not actually a league,
“I-league is the only league in India. You can not have two leagues in a country. We will not call ISL a league,” said Valcke.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734872010labto1734872010ofdlr1734872010owedi1734872010sni@r1734872010ebab.1734872010kram1734872010
