The Mohun Bagan fiasco - AIFF's master-stroke?

As expected, Mohun Bagan was rewarded with a new lease of life by the All India Football Federation officials. In the I-League core committee meeting, which was held at Udyog Bhavan in Delhi, Mohun Bagan were allowed to walk away free by just paying a sum of Rs. 2 crores. It was just like a criminal escaping punishment by paying a mere penalty.

For this century old club, playing a sum of Rs. 2 crores is just a cakewalk. Even some of the Mohun Bagan players draw an annual salary of Rs. 2 crores. Thus, with such a huge fan base and loads of sponsors, it won’t be tough job at all for Mohun Bagan to pay the fine.

Now, the decision of letting Mohun Bagan off the hook might just be the perfect coup by the committee members and the AIFF officials. This step by the governing body of Indian football might look to be a very amiable one but the repercussion of this decision may be unparalleled.

News was in the air that Mohun Bagan’s punishment would be to play in the second division of the I-league from the next season, owing to the preposterous decision taken by their officials on the fateful derby clash on 9th December. But after the core committee meeting, all the points earned by Mohun Bagan in this season’s I-League have been forfeited and they have been asked to start from scratch and also, monetary fine has been imposed on them.

As per as the current I-League standings are concerned, Mohun Bagan is placed last with zero points. Even Mohun Bagan’s closest competitors, United Sikkim and Salgaocar have gathered 10 and 11 points respectively. It effectively means that to avoid relegation, Mohun Bagan has to surpass these teams with just 10 matches in their hands. It is obviously an uphill task for the green and maroon brigade.

If Mohun Bagan would have been forced to play in the second division of the I-league, they wouldn’t have had to pay the sum of Rs. 2 crores as a fine. In this masterstroke, it looks as if AIFF have not only snatched the sum of Rs. 2 crores from Mohun Bagan in an official manner, but also pushed them to the edge of being relegated, with only 10 matches to go in the 2012-2013 I-league.

It will be a win-win situation for AIFF if the Mariners are relegated as they already have got the money and then will be showing the doors of the second division to Mohun Bagan, although in an indirect fashion. AIFF’s goal will be achieved, i.e. following the text book rules and allowing Mohun Bagan to play in the I-league, but only in the second division. Mohun Bagan’s think tank, Karim Bencherifa now has a big task at hand to save his team from relegation.

Taking into consideration the huge number of Mohun Bagan fanatics all over India, this decision by AIFF was similar to killing the snake without breaking the stick. Now, the point comes that if the committee members were to take the decision themselves, then what was the reason for appointing retired justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly to decide the fate of Mohun Bagan?

AIFF played it safe by appointing justice A.K. Ganguly, just to make sure that no other clubs raised their voice against them. Bagan were banned under 22(C), which stated that a club should be banned for two years if they refuse to field a playing XI in the match. After all the protests and appeals by the die-hard Mohun Bagan fans and the officials, AIFF finally agreed to take a more lenient decision at the committee meeting. The federation couldn’t even stick to their own rules, proving themselves of being a very weakly framed organisation. How can such a weak Board govern Indian football?

Who knows what has happened at the meeting! If it had been any other small club, then the outcome of the meeting might not have been the same.

All these things might have been already fixed by AIFF, just to show to world how compassionate they were about the fans. But in reality, there might lie a dark secret which is still hidden in the hearts of the AIFF members. Now we have to wait and watch whether AIFF’s masterstroke gets executed in the way they wanted, or is there another twist in the tale!