The sudden death

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There can be no more inkling that football in Kerala is on a downfall when the 34th Federation Cup football championship begins at Jamshedpur on September 19 without a State club for the first time in over 30 years.

Kerala Police were in their prime when they won consecutive Fed Cups in 1990 and 1991 and though a Kerala-based club has been deprived of glory ever since, there was never a year when the State wasn’t represented.

But when Chirag United Kerala, the Kochi-based Kolkata-group-owned I-League team took part in last year’s championship, none would have guessed that the 2012 edition will turn shameful for the state with such a profound legacy in the beautiful game.

“I believe it is the first time a club from Kerala is absent at the Fed Cup. It is such a shame for our State clubs, which for decades enriched Indian football, to be in such dire situation,” said Anil Kumar, secretary of Kerala Football Association.

Following relegation from the I-League, the owners of Chirag had disowned the club and the players abandoned the base.

In the absence of Chirag and the lack of a quality second division side, Kerala football has become a mere spectator.

Since the inception of the tourney in the 1977-78 season, Kerala was represented regularly and on most occasions, by at least two teams.

Titanium, Central Excise Kochi, State Bank of Travancore and Kerala Police were the prominent teams that played in the prestigious tournament over the years.

Kerala football was revolutionalised with the formation of FC Kochin in 1998 and they went on to represent the state in the Fed Cup until 2001 shortly before its disbanding. However, when Fed Cup returned after a year’s break in 2002, SBT carried the baton.

For five years after that since 2010, Viva Kerala maintained that order even after SBT pulled out of the event in 2008.

Last year, Viva management was bought by Kolkata based Chirag computers and they continued to be a part of the Fed Cup.

When Chirag ended at the bottom of Group D, winless in all three matches not a football fan in this football-frenzied State would have thought that it was the beginning of a downfall.