Sitting under the plexiglass team shelter,Abdul Quddoos the founder general secretary of the Delhi Club Ahbab watched with only the slightest concern as his 40-year-old club side conceded yet another goal to IAF,inside the opening 50 minutes. The teams were playing in the qualification rounds of the 123 -year-old Durand Cup,and at the end of a 5-1 rout,Ahbab were failed to qualify for the main rounds. Initially,I would get upset that my team is losing,but now it has stopped bothering me. Clubs from Delhi rarely do well. 70 years since the Durand Cup made Delhi its permanent home,a team from Delhi has yet to make any impact in the tournament. Delhi,as the venue for the tournament,has the benefit of allowing 3 teams from its senior Division to enter the qualification rounds,but few qualify for the main draw. I remember New Delhi Heroes reached the semi-finals some 39 years back,but that has been the best performance till date. The main reason is that the Durand Cup is scheduled at the start of the Delhi season while the transfer window for players the Delhi soccer season will close only on October 25. Many of our top players have sought for transfers, says Quddoos. Its not just the local players whose absence has dealt a blow. Ahbabs two Nigerian strikers Alex and Felix,who were instrumental in their third place finish in the Delhi Senior Division,have both gone to play in the Assam League. Unlike some of the bigger clubs from Bengal and Goa like East Bengal and Salgaocar,we cannot hire the foreign players throughout the season. We usually hire them for the period of a few months or whenever we have a major tournament, And so priorities determine that the best players will be brought back only for the Delhi local tournament the Senior Division. Quddoos says that his best team will be the one that plays in the Senior Division in a few months time. If I had to choose between Durand and the Senior Division,I will rather focus on the local tournament. In the Delhi tournament,I will be competing against my neighbours so the competition will be much more intense. Mere liye to wohi izzat ka sawal ban jata hai (it becomes a matter of pride), he says with a smile
