Wednesday’s proposed meeting between representatives of the Indian Professional Football Clubs Association and the AIFF’s commercial partner IMG-Reliance was postponed without mentioning a new date, extending the deadlock between I-League club owners and IMG-R.
Many players are caught in dilemma regarding joining the proposed IMG-Reliance tournament from an I-League club and vice-versa. The issue over the release of I-League players or the signing of IMG-R contracted players was not supposed to be discussed in the proposed meeting, which was to break the ice and bring the issue later on the table.
All India Football Federation general secretary Kushal Das had sent a letter to IPFCA president Raj Gomes and general secretary Chirag Tanna to set up a meeting in Mumbai between IMG-R and the club representatives to discuss the players loan/transfer issues.
IPFCA accordingly conducted an internal meeting on Tuesday here to form a six-member panel to have discussions with AIFF and IMG-R to try and and break the deadlock.
“AIFF have informed us that IMG-R won’t be meeting us until the next executive committee meeting. After our meeting on Tuesday we had told the AIFF that we want to know IMG-R’s plans regarding the new tournament and how it would benefit Indian football,” Gomes, who is Salgaocar general secretary, told this paper.
“AIFF had asked for a meeting and after we responded positively on Tuesday they immediately agreed for a meeting on Wednesday as everyone was in Mumbai. But then we got a late night call from AIFF and an email in the morning regarding the postponement of the meeting,” Tanna who is Pune FC’s head of operations said.
“They said there is no plan before us. The AIFF executive committee meeting is scheduled for August 1 where IMG-R is supposed to reveal their plans. They can meet us after that which is fine with us,” Tanna added.