Praful Patel Faces Heat as Football Federation Members Demand Polls

On Saturday (February 5), the All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel announced the formation of a three-member committee to look into the legal aspect of the federation elections of office bearers, which has now been delayed for around 14 months.

According to sources, Patel decided to form the committee during the annual general meeting of the federation in a Mumbai hotel after several members of the AIFF expressed their reservations over the delay in elections. 

While Patel said the Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) president NA Harris will be one of the members of the committee, the names of the other two will be announced later. The committee is expected to submit a report within 30 days.

The AIFF elections were due to be held in December 2020, but the AIFF decided to postpone them citing a legal case over its constitution pending in the Supreme Court. While many members said the case could in no way prevent due elections, the federation bosses claimed it received legal opinion against holding elections unless the court case is settled.

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In December 2020, Patel completed his three four-year terms as the AIFF president and is not eligible to continue as per the federation constitution and the national sports code.

Sources said discontent over the issue of delay in elections has been simmering among members for a long time and was raised by a few of them in Saturday’s meeting. If the KSFA president NA Harris was most vocal, other members also joined to speak on the subject.

Harris wondered that if — as per the version of the AIFF — the constitution of the body has temporarily been suspended and a new one is to be approved by the Apex Court, then under which rule the AGM has been called. He also said it is a pity that the AIFF spent close to Rs. 3 crore on settling legal matters but has yet failed to secure anything concrete in more than four years.

Patel told the members he had no intention to continue in the chair, but was forced to do it because the elections could not be held because of legal issues. He further said the two-member committee of the Supreme Court was supposed to submit its report on constitution and other matters within eight weeks, but has failed to do so in close to four years. According to Patel, the committee has asked for more time from the Supreme Court.

Later, a member, who did not wish to be named, said, “Our president has formed a committee, which is fine. We hope the elections are held and elected people take charge of the body. It is not right on the part of some people to continue in top positions even if their terms are over. This is in complete violations of FIFA, AIFF and national sports code. Let us see what kind of committee Mr. Patel forms finally.”

The AIFF boss faced further embarrassment in the meeting while proposing a minute’s silence as a mark of respect for the legends of Indian football, who passed away in the last one year. To great discomfort of the members, it was found the list of names to be proposed for condolences was not prepared by the federation. While at least one member complained this was not the right way to show respect to departed souls, who did so much for the game, an upset Patel said he was pained by the irresponsible behaviour of a couple of his senior executives.

Patel said it was unfortunate that the Indian women’s team could not play more than one match in the ongoing AFC Asian women’s Championships after a majority of the players were infected by Covid-19. He did not however blame anyone for the fiasco. “I feel very sad and heartbroken that the Blue Tigresses could not take the field in their second match of the AFC Women’s Cup India 2022 as they did not have even 11 players to take the field. It’s extremely unfortunate,” Mr. Patel stated. 

“We have the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022 in India later this year. The tournament will be organised by FIFA but I can assure you that the global tournament will be held in India,” he added. 

Two days after the Indian team was forced to withdraw from the Asian Cup, India’s Swedish coach Thomas Dennerby categorically put the blame on AFC and said the continental body didn’t do enough to protect the Indian girls. The AFC covid regulations, however, clearly said the home side were to be responsible for their own safety. Sources said as of now, the AFC president and secretary are unlikely to attend the final in Mumbai on Sunday.

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