New Delhi: A meeting between representatives of I-League Professional Football Clubs Association and IMG-R, the commercial partners of All India Football Federation, did not take place Wednesday with the company maintaining that it cannot meet an entity not recognised by the AIFF.
AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das had written to Salgaocar Secretary Raj Gomes and Pune FC Head Operations Chirag Tanna saying he has been informed by IMG-R to contact them "to set up a meeting in Mumbai of club representatives to discuss and agree on players loan/transfer issues so that both I-League 2013-2014 and the proposed new tournament can be conducted smoothly".
In response to that, the club representatives under the umbrella of IPFCA in a meeting in Mumbai yesterday, had proposed an interaction with IMG-Reliance here today. Six representatives of IPFCA were named yesterday to meet officials of IMG-R and the AIFF. But an IMG-R source told PTI that Das had written to Gomes and Tanna for a meeting with only the representatives of their respective two clubs and not with IPFCA representatives.
"Das had addressed the letter to Gomes and Tanna as Secretary of Salgaocar and Head Operations Pune FC respectively and they were not addressed as President and Secretary of IPFCA. So, Das had asked representatives of Salgaocar and Pune FC only to meet us," the source said.
"AIFF, in its letter last week, had asked three club officials from Salgaocar, Pune FC and East Bengal to meet IMG-R and not the so called club association. The IPFCA is not recognised by AIFF and as far as I understand it is not even registered under Society Act 1980. That is the real reason why IMG-R were advised not to attend the meeting called by this body. We are ready to meet the clubs separately but not under the umbrella of IPFCA," the source said.
"Our reasons of not attending the meeting was not talked about yesterday. The club people tried to giving off reasons but not the real one," the source added. Gomes, however, said that the AIFF will inform a date of the meeting after executive committee meeting of the federation which is scheduled for August 1.
"AIFF will give a new date (of the meeting) after (AIFF's) Executive Committee Meeting on August 1," Gomes said when asked about the meeting. "They (IMG-R) need to present the proposed tournament plans to the AIFF Exco Meeting scheduled on August 1 and then they will come to us," he said.
When contacted AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das refused to comment on the issue. "I have no comments," Das told PTI, when asked about his comments on IMG-R saying that the company had only wanted to meet representatives of individual clubs -- Salgaocar and Pune FC.
The IMG-R source also said that his company will present the plans of the proposed tournament to the AIFF Executive Committee Meeting scheduled to be held here on August 1. The IPFCA, in its meeting in Mumbai yesterday, named six representatives to meet officials of IMG-R and the AIFF to discuss the issue of the proposed IPL-style league.
"A letter has come from Kushal Das (AIFF's general secretary) asking for a joint meeting with IMG (AIFF's marketing partners). We today decided that six of our members would attend the meeting," said I-League club Pune FC's owner Nandan Piramal at a media conference after the meeting.
"Raj Gomes (president of IPFCA), Chirag Tanna (its secretary), two of our vice presidents, Valanka Alemao (CEO of Churchill Brothers) and Mustafa Ghouse (from newly formed I-League club JSW) will attend the meeting on our behalf," said Piramal.
"We would like to know how such a league will benefit Indian football, I-League - which is the premier football tournament in the country - and the I-League clubs. We are going into this meeting with an open mind and without any preconceived notion," Piramal said.
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