Ranjit Bajaj has mellowed his tone on social media since the time the AIFF proposed a roadmap for Indian football to the AFC.
Happy with the way things stand for now, but there is a lot of work left to be done for India to have a robust football league structure, is what Ranjit Bajaj thinks of the current situation of the sport in the country. The Minerva Punjab owner has been outspoken in his criticism of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) and Reliance-IMG for what he describes as their attempts to kill off the I-League over the past few years.
He has mellowed his tone on social media since the time the AIFF proposed a roadmap for Indian football to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and has even praised the federation for getting D-Sports as broadcasters for the 2019/20 season of the I-League. However, he says that this is only temporary relief.
"Six months ago there was zero hope. There was a complete blackout on us. I knew that if this went for two or three years, we will be dead," Bajaj told IANS. Bajaj said that if the ultimate aim is to make the I-League the second tier of the Indian league system, there needs to be measures in place to ensure that the clubs involved in the league can survive.
"They don't understand, if there is no second division, there will be no first division. To have a good strong first division, you have to have a strong second division. If you want a good second division, you need to have a strong third division. And you are killing the second division.
"They had to make something that could help the clubs survive for a good three years and the only way we could do that was with broadcasters. Because if there is a broadcaster I can sell my players next year to the ISL, get sponsors, everything works."
Bajaj said that the roadmap that was proposed by the AIFF in October, and has since been approved by the AFC, is a step forward as it ends with a league system which has promotion and relegation.
"I have been saying that since day one. Put us in the fourth division. If we deserve to be there (the first division), we will be there. You need promotion and relegation. If you don't have that it becomes a financial league not a sports league. The only basis of being in the national league should be sporting merit. Not if you can pay a few million dollars to a private person," he said.
A system that has tiers connected via promotions and relegations will facilitate the sustainability for the smaller clubs in a league, which Bajaj feels is essential as they can act as feeders of young talent to bigger clubs and the national team.
"In a league there has to be small clubs, who can be selling clubs. That means I produce players, sell them to big clubs and I run my club with the money I get from that," he said.
Bajaj said that he fails to understand the hesitancy that the powers that be have in getting a unified league. "This entire property is practically theirs (Reliance). What are they thinking? They have readymade matches. Suppose Gokulam Kerala plays Kerala Blasters; the Southern derby is not Kerala Blasters playing Bengaluru FC. You have readymade derbies everywhere. If they factor in all of this and they spend all that money on two divisions, the progress of Indian football will be so fast," he said.
