Discontent brews in AFC, AIFF

FIFA president Sepp Blatter8217;s visit to India has generated a lot of interest in the country8217;s football fraternity.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter8217;s visit to India has generated a lot of interest in the country8217;s football fraternity. It has also generated a heated debate on whether this kind of assistance will help in the growth of the game in the country, or if the All India Football Federation8217;s AIFF style of functioning is the right approach.

Asian Football Confederation AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam, for one, has been very vocal about his displeasure in the way the AIFF functions. Now even a senior functionary of the federation who didn8217;t want to be named, said that neither the AFC nor FIFA is happy with the way the national body functions.

8220;FIFA is completely in the dark as to how the AIFF functions. But knowing how it does, the AFC is rather unhappy about it all,8221; the senior member said.

8220;If we work in the existing system, Indian football will not progress in the next 100 years too,8221; said Hammam.

Talking about AIFF8217;s programmes and the way it is implemented, Hammam said that it is good for amateurs, but to make any headway at the highest level things have to be done differently. 8220;In fact, the whole continent is No 1 at the amateur level. But the dream that India is seeing of playing in the World Cup finals will not be fulfilled by amateur football,8221; Hammam added.

AIFF president and Union I038;B and Parliamentarly Affairs minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, also present on the occasion, did not react to Hammam8217;s comment. To bolster his case, he had brought over Union External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister Shivraj Patil. The two ministers added muscle to the AIFF chief8217;s projected case and Patil even added how football has, at times, pushed insurgency to the backburner in areas like the north-east. How that is related to India becoming a soccer superpower wasn8217;t immediately clear.

However, indications that something was rotten in the state of Indian soccer was available to Blatter. It was clear when he said: 8220;India have to perform the basics right to see it8217;s success.

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8220;The FIFA, AFC, fans and all it8217;s supporters are behind you. It8217;s time now for India to take that huge leap forward, not in the air, but on the ground.8221;