Club football in tatters

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As United Sikkim Football Club prepares to join its cousin Shillong Lajong in the I-League next season, Kerala will rue the near death situation of club football in the State.

We speak to a few men, who have been involved with the game and who are willing to testify to the plight of the giant of Indian football.

“If you need an answer, get one thing straight — football nowadays is pure business and the love of the game is simply not good enough to sustain a club. Unfortunately, club football here has just love and no financing,” said P. Anil Kumar, secretary of Kerala Football Association.

“To make a team you need the support of fans, revenue from memberships, marketing and merchandising and above all reliable sponsors. But none of the club managements in the State have managed to fulfil any of these criteria,” said Anil.

Veteran football coach A.M. Sreedharan, who was involved with three clubs that had serious impacts on Kerala’s club football over the last few decades such as the Kerala Police, F C Kochin and Viva Kerala has another point to make.

“For a team to perform on a long-term basis players must be retained like they do in East Bengal or Dempo or other top I-League clubs do. But with contracts for six and eight months like they are given here, you can only dream of running a football team,” said Sreedharan.

“F C Kochin was a phenomenon, but it met a premature death due to a financial crisis. But for Viva, financial problems came secondary. Changing coaches and players, season after season have put them in a crisis,” said Sreedharan, who was the first coach of Viva, now Chirag United Kerala.

Meanwhile, the final piece of the jigsaw lies with Syed Masood, managing director of Chirag United Kerala that has been relegated from the I-League and is now staring a probable disbanding albeit another sponsor.

“How can we market or do merchandising or even sign long-term contracts when nobody is willing to invest in football? We approached several big firms, including those investing crores in cricket and motor sports but they bluntly refuse to sponsor a football club,” said Masood.