Rs 450 per day, 4 to a room, players cook to cut hotel bill: national football in IPL season

The daily allowance handed out by the All India Football Federation was Rs 450 a day per player, including boarding and lodging. And teams, obviously, had to do things the hard way.

The Karnataka team checked into the Saleem Guest House on Dal Gate where each room is priced Rs 1,000 per day. “We had to take five rooms for the whole squad, four players to one room,” said Karnataka manager Aslam Khan. “If the boys want to get their laundry done in the hotel, they have to pay for it themselves. Even then the costs go over and above what we are given by the AIFF.” The state association provided each player an additional Rs 100 a day as pocket money.

The Kerala squad, which made it only to the quarter-finals, stayed at the Taj in Srinagar, where the daily tariff was brought down to Rs 800 per day, thanks to a deal with the J&K football association. But the only meal they could afford at the hotel was lunch — for breakfast and dinner, they did their own cooking.

Two teams that had it slightly easier were finalist Services, who stayed at the Army cantonment in Srinagar, and Goa, one of the fortunate sides whose sponsors took care of all additional expenses. The Goa team stayed at the Hotel Shah Abaas (Rs 1200 per day) apart from which players were given an additional daily allowance of Rs 700, a figure that sounds almost extravagant in comparison to the others.

And while the daily allowance has been a grouse for most teams, they aren’t completely happy with the travel arrangements made by the AIFF either. Teams such as Kerala and Karnataka, travelling all the way from the South, had to contend with four-day journeys to reach Srinagar.

“We had to go from Bangalore to Chennai, and from there it took us four days to reach Jammu by train. After that, it was another 12 hours by bus. This is a national meet, and it isn’t for me to tell the AIFF, but it surely could have been made much easier. It’s an uncomfortable ride in 3-tier. We should at least have been given the option to fly from Jammu to Srinagar,” said Karnataka manager Aslam Khan.

Football associations in states where football is less developed — unlike Goa, Bengal and Maharashtra — find it tough to sustain additional costs themselves.

“The development of football is not the same all over India,” said Kerala manager Stanley James, also the vice-president of the Kerala Football Association. “ His team left Kerala on May 31 and reached Srinagar on June 3.

“Because of all these difficulties, many players do not want to represent the state,” says a player on condition of anonymity. “Most footballers are now used to travelling by air (when they play for their clubs). And with all the other problems, this is very discouraging.”

Jagbir Singh, who coaches Punjab, feels they aren’t even close to getting enough. “We need at least Rs 1,000 more as daily allowance, apart from what we get from the AIFF.”

A couple of weeks ago, India coach Bob Houghton said that archaic tournaments like the Santosh Trophy needed to be done away with. Kerala coach Victor Manjila reckons the AIFF is achieving that without trying too hard. “They have to do something, or this tournament is doomed.”