DFA rift taking toll on players

Talking to The Indian Express,Kanhaiyya Lal said,“ The football trials were organised at Chowk Stadium on July 15 and 16 and sports directorate representatives were also present there. Though DFA president had brought many players from a school in Alambagh but most of them did not have the Nagar Nigam birth certificates. We entertain only the Nagar Nigam or the High School certificates.”

When told that in tournaments organised by the Sports Directorate,age proofs certified by the principals are entertained,he said,“ That too only 10 girls had brought. Out of these,in 8 certificates there was no controversy. On the basis of their performance in the trials,we selected six girls in the team and kept two as stand-byes. Most of the other girls did not come up with the required certificates. I prepared a tentative team list and asked the girls to bring the certificates the next day. As I did not get the certificates from them so I did not send the team list to the Regional Sports Office.”

He alleged that things were not falling in place as the DFA president wanted to take everything under his control.

“He sent me the Railway concession papers on Friday evening and I said that it was too late to pursue it by then,”he alleged.

A sports department source admitted that no team list was received by the RSO office. “Had the DFA sent the list to the RSO office on time,then arrangements would have been made for the stay of the girls by the sports department.”

DFA president Satish Shukla said that he was hopeful that the girls will be allowed to play in the tournament on Tuesday. “ I have had a talk with the Regional Sports Officer,Lucknow RP Singh in this regard and I will be meeting him on Tuesday morning. Things will get solved once the team gets a green signal from the Lucknow authorities and the same is conveyed to the sports officials at Shahjahanpur. The match is in the evening.”

Shukla admitted that such a situation has arisen due to the differences between him and Kanhaiyya Lal. “There is tug of war taking place in the DFA,” he said.

With such differences between the DFA officials costing dearly on the players and the sport of football,one only wonders what the state body bosses are doing to ease things out!