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Bhutia scores own goal!

K Bhaskaran

The All-India Football Federation seems to be fishing for trouble in the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation Cup Football Tournament, which began at Kathmandu on September 4.

It has included in the side star forward Bhaichung Bhutia, who is currently under suspension imposed by the the Indian Football Association, which controls the game in West Bengal.

Bhutia, along with former international wing back Ilyas Pasha and Dulal Biswas, were banned for four matches and fined Rs 25,000 each by the IFA on referee Udayan Haldar's report that he was manhandled by the three players, also their colleague Abdul Sadiq (who for his part has been banned for two matches and fined Rs 10,000) during the East Bengal-Mohun Bagan Calcutta super division league match on August 2. The disciplinary action was taken at a meeting held in the last week of August.

The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA, governing body of the game in the world) takes a serious view of acts of indiscipline, as they bring the game into disrepute. Besides, indulgence in vilolence has to be condemned per se. And manhandling a referee is something that FIFA does not, will not countenance. Indeed, there are instance when FIFA has made clear to its member national associations that the sanctions imposed currently against indiscipline are too light and that they have to be enhanced.

Besides, the FIFA Statues, Article 53, requires 'affiliated national associations to recognise each other's suspensions and expulsions'. And FIFA expects its member associations to take the cue from its decisions vis-a-vis international football. Which means that the AIFF should endorse the sanctions imposed by the IFA Bhutia and others. And, as the AIFF has been seeking FIFA's guidance in matters like the entry of FC Kochin in the Kalyani Black Label Federation Cup earliier this year, FIFA could construe that in this instance, the AIFF was deliberately bypassing its guidelines in dealing with acts of indiscipline - and violent ones at that.

If FIFA decides to probe the issue, it will surely get to know that AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi has taken refugee in trivial technicalities, or rather in the letter of a rule, to flout the underlying spirit which is to uphold the good name of the game.

So much has been written about the Bhutia episode, especially in the Calcutta press, that the whole episode leading to the IFA's sanctions are common knowledge. The chances are that at least the Bangladeshi followers of the game in Calcutta would be aware of Bhutia's suspension. And they could well raise the issue of Bhutia's eligibility to assist India at Kathmandu while he is still under suspension. Dasmunshi's plea that the IFA has not intimated the AIFF of the suspension just won't wash.

And once the can of worms is opened, FIFA could ask the AIFF other embarrassing questions. Like, why did the IFA take as many as three weeks to meet to decide on the action against the errant East Bengal players and officials as well as the Mohun Bagan coach and former president? Also, why did the AIFF not take steps to expedite the necessary IFA disciplinary committee meeting when it was fully aware that one of the leading Indian players, Bhutia, was involved in the ugly incidents of the August 2 match? And very pertinently, why, instead of seeking refuge in lapse of time, or even absence, of communication from the IFA - especially in these days when meeting and conferences among parties spread round the world are held by telephone and when Calcutta is the city where both the IFA and the AIFF president are located - did this lapse in communication occur between the two bodies?

If FIFA decides to probe the eligibility of Bhutia to play in the SAARC cup, it could, perhaps, also come to know of Ilyas Pasha disputing referee's Haldar's report and the consequent suspension of the East Bengal foursome in a court of law. Pasha's appeal to a court of law contravenes Article 57, section 1 of the FIFA statues, which says national assocations, clubs or club members shall not be permitted to refer disputes with the Federation or other Association clubs or club members to a court of law and that they shall agree to submit all such disputes to an arbitration tribunal appointed by common consent.

It may be argued that the statues apply only to international football, that disputes of clubs or club members with member associations of a National Association do not come under FIFA's jurisdiction. The Bosman case may even be cited as a precedent. But the AIFF then will be hard put to explain why it sought the advice of FIFA and AFC for what is purely an internal matter and within the jurisdiction of the AIFF.

A truly awkward situation! A FIFA probe could open a veritable Pandora's Box, and the manifold flaws in the working of the AIFF could come out there in the open for all to see. Which is not, any way you look at it, a pleasant prospect.