A sudden spell of rain and a soggy afternoon didn’t dampen my spirit from attending this one particular media conference at Mr Praful Patel’s office at Ministry of Civil Aviation. I virtually rushed upstairs to catch the ‘surprise package’ which the AIFF emergency committee members were waiting to uncork in the run up to pick the next general secretary.
But I fail to understand why there has to be so much drama to pick the best candidate for the interview? There are couple of candidates who don’t have any footballing background yet they made the cut. I have even heard of a former cricketer who wants to occupy the hot seat. Has our football set-up been reduced to kind of a joke?
After AIFF became a full-fledged organization in 1948, it had ‘veteran’ secretaries who were often blind to realities of modern football.
Ever since I had started following football in the late 70s, I have heard of Mr Ashok Ghosh (I remember watching him on the TV during the inauguration of Nehru Cup in 1982) and K Ziauddin. Just as a nation we rely on our veteran leaders, the Federation also picked on secretaries who were in their ‘retirement’ age.
After Ghosh, I came across three more secretaries (PP Lakshmanan, KN Mour) and the current incumbent Mr Alberto Colaco. Otherwise, Indian football wouldn’t have a fall after the 1970 Asian Games bronze. We lost our Asian supremacy. Today, we are struggling to keep pace with south Asian nations. We have to understand why we are falling back. Why we had to wait for 24 years to secure Asian Cup berth? Why our youth development programme is mired in over-age controversies?
So why were shuddering to recruit someone who is young, dynamic and have a vision for Indian football. Would it be detrimental to the football development if AIFF goes in for a young secretary? I don’t think so. And I’m sure most would agree with me that by having someone young, Indian football definitely won’t stumble. AIFF can only have some fresh ideas and a motivation to initiate productive work.
There are officials who want to politicize the entire process. Some even want to ‘put’ a proxy candidate. It is quite embarrassing for Indian football.
