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The football diary/K Bhaskaran

Money rules, okay!

The All-India Football Federation is at it again.

From its stand of April-May, it has made a remarkable somersault to include FC Kochi in the second National League, scheduled to commence in the second half of December. It will be recalled that India's first wholly professional club, supported by non-resident Indians, United Breweries and now possibly by either Adidas or Reebok, was excluded from the Kalyani Black Label Cup, formerly known as the Federation Cup.

The AIFF cited the advice of the Federation Internationale de Football Association and the Asian Football Confederation for scotching F C Kochi's hopes of putting behind its defeat in the final of the four-team McDowell Cup in Calcutta, making a deep impression in the KBL Cup and enhancing claims for a place in the National League.

The AIFF cleverly bracketted Tiger Club of Rajasthan with FC Kochin while ruling that a team which had not played in the local league cannot be taken in the KBL Cup, which earlier was the event to determine the champion club to represent the country in the Asian Cup. And it sort of added weight to its decision by giving out that the basis was the advice of FIFA and AFC.

The contents of the letter through which the AIFF sought the advice is not known. But, if it had mentioned that the tournament was for the champion clubs of its various affiliates, then the advice of the international bodies has been based on wrong premises. No city or state can have three league champions, as would be the case with the participation of Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting, all former champions, as also of Mafatlal Sports Club, Tata Sports Club, Mahindra and Mahindra, Orkay Mills and Century Rayon.

Incidentally none of the Bombay teams have succeeded in inscribing its name on the trophy. Or, for that matter, the participation of Salgaocar and Dempo from Goa.

With its inclusion as one of the two additional teams for the second edition of the National League, FC Kochi could tend to forget and forgive AIFF for keeping it out of the KBL Cup, an event sponsored by United Breweries. Mohun Bagan, the other draftee, missed the bus last time by falling to Mahindra and Mahindra in the qualifying league last year. It, too, is unlikely to join those critical of AIFF's method of choosing the two to join the eight who played in the first edition of the National League - champion Jagatjit Cotton and Textiles Mills, runner-up Churchill Brothers, East Bengal, Dempo, Air India, Indian Bank, Salgoacar and Mahindra and Mahindra.

Initially, the two new entrants were to come through a qualifying competition. It is learnt that some AIFF members, as well as the National League sub-committee, also wished to stick to that decision. Out of the blue came the choice of Mohun Bagan and FC Kochi by the AIFF.

True, Mohun Bagan and FC Kochin have staked stronger claims through their performances this season than any other club in the country. For Mohun Bagan, besides winning the Calcutta League, also has bagged the Independence Cup in Nowgong and the Delhi Cloth Mills Cup and ending up as runner-up in the Durand.

FC Kochi's record is just as good. Runner-up in the McDowell Cup and the six-team Scissors Cup, which had two foreign teams including West Rifa of Bahrain, to whom FC Kochi lost in the replayed final on the draw of lots, the Kerala outfit registered its first major triumph by taking the Durand Cup.

The participation of these two teams surely will boost not only the competitiveness of the National League, but also its income from the gates as well as from television. Last season, save for the matches played at the Nehru Stadium, Fatorda in Goa, the rest were a disappointment by way of gates. As JCT's Sukhvinder Singh said, it was not so much a disappointment as a disaster. "For our match at home (Punjab) against high-flying Churchill Brothers, there were about 50 spectators, and this with free admission. But for our return match in Goa, there were 35,000!"

The spectator response at the other centers apart from Goa -- that is, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, was unbelievably poor. For the home matches of Bombay's Air India and Mahindra and Mahindra, the average was less than a thousand spectators. Even East Bengal failed to enthuse the fans of Calcutta.

Hence, it was no surprise that the National League did not yield the returns the AIFF and the football followers looked forward to. Though the accounts of the League have not been publicised, it is learnt that the loss from the venture was almost as heavy as the outlay.

The AIFF must be hoping to remedy the situation this season, and must be banking on Mohun Bagan and FC Kochi to contribute heavily to the turn-around. The two games between arch rivals Mohun Bagan and East Bengal in Calcutta will witness the packing of the Salt Lake Stadium. And the matches of these two teams against title contenders from outside Calcutta also will draw huge crowds, if not as huge as those for the Mohun Bagan-East Bengal games. Besides, stadia in Kochi, Madras, Goa, Bombay and Delhi will present a more encouraging picture, with either of the two Calcutta teams participating.

The new Nehru Stadium in Kochi could attract fans from even remote parts of Kerala for FC Kochi's matches, and make the AIFF rue the absence of a team from Kerala in the inaugural National League. As Kerala is acknowledged as Indian soccer's El Dorado, the AIFF could be rubbing its hands in glee. The better turn-out at the different stadia also will please Star Sports, whose cameramen could pick lively action not only on the playing field but also in the stands all round. And this could better the chances of AIFF attracting more revenue through increased advertising.

In view of all these welcome prospects, it may be churlish to talk of the AIFF having cut corners to accommodate Mohun Bagan and FC Kochi in the National League.

K Bhaskaran