RTI and Indian football

S Ravindra Bhat is not a sportsperson. Neither he is a sports administrator. But he has done something praiseworthy which not even the government couldn’t do in all these years. Well, Mr Bhat is a judge and is credited with a historical ruling which has considerably expanded the scope of the Right to Information (RTI) Act on sports associations.

Last week, the Delhi Hight Court has asked the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the Commonwealth Games Organising Commitee (OC) to shed opacity and set up an office to disseminate information and depute a public information officer (PIO).
They were brought under the ambit of the transparency Act which I’m sure is expected to open the floodgates of pointed RTI queries directed against these sports bodies, seeking information about their management, grants and administration. The judgment will have an impact in injecting an element of accountability not just in IOA and OC, but in all the sports federations.

Meanwhile, our Sports Minister MS Gill is trying to make Indian sports clean. I’m not sure how far will he be able to succeed. But atleast he has forced federations to function in a transparent, dignified manner. Though the federations are autonomous bodies and most of them function in archaic, feudal manner yet the minister wants to them to fall in line with the “democratic principles of the country”.

That’s great news. But what about our football association?. Since this blog exclusively focuses on Indian football, I would be ask Mr Gill if he can bring about a change in All India Football Federation (AIFF).

In June last year, AIFF secretary general Alberto Colaco resigned from the post. The AIFF executive committee decided to hold interviews to select the candidate who would replace Colaco. Even the vacancy was advertised on AIFF’s web portal. Lot of candidates applied for the post. But only the “right candidates” were shortlisted for the interview. They even received their call letters. But surprisingly the interview never took place. Why? Well, that’s what we have been trying to figure it out.

It was learnt that Colaco, apparently, in his last ditch effort, has been trying to manipulate the big bosses at AFC and FIFA and use their influence. In one of the tours to Zurich alongwith the Sports Minister, the outgoing secretary had asked an important FIFA member to influence Gill. Now we know why AIFF hasn’t yet finalized the interview date and Colaco was happily given an extension by the executive committee which otherwise is happy to bow to the Goan.

AIFF’s secretary post is a paid one. But it assumes a lot of significance. Anybody would love to hold it for long. But Mr Gill’s call to democratize system has taken a beating. Once the vacancy is out and the candidates have been selected, why the AIFF has dillydallied on the interview date.

Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) was dismissed by IOA to bring in a fair, clean, new management. As Mr Gill said: “We can’t have a system where “there is no appeal, no daleel, no vakil”. Why the sports ministry, who has dolled a huge chunk of public funds to the federation, should not pull them up?

Negative publicity is good for Indian football!

Thanks to the reports and TV visuals of the alleged molestation of an air-hostess by Okolie Odafe and two other footballers, there is a buzz around Indian football. From Tuesday (Jan 5) till Wed (Jan 6), TV channels and newspapers have indulged themselves in scooping gossipy stories around Churchill Brothers' three footballers who were arrested at Mumbai airport on their way to Kolkata for the I-League match.

Nobody knows the truth. Odafe says he is innocent and was seen requesting the TV anchor to get his camera from Goa which the Nigerian claims has visuals of the entire incident. But first and foremost, was there any need to highlight the entire incident? Are these footballers did what former Haryana DIG SP Rathore did years ago? Are we not exaggerating the entire episode?

The truth is not yet out. So why put these footballers on the gallows. Particularly, Arindam Bhattacharya who seems to be so promising. I'm sure it would have an adverse effect on his career. Last month in Dhaka, Arindam single-handedly won the SAFF Cup for India in the final when he saved three penalties in the tie-breaker against Maldives. Did anybody notice his agility under the Indian goal? Did the media bother to interview him? Did that TV anchor, who I'm sure may not care about Indian football and footballers, profile this young goalkeeper? He didn't. Neither the newspapers wrote any parody on the Indian footballers.

After all, gossips keep us happy. I'm sure everybody derive a strange pleasure from gossips. And media blows it up. It is some kind of a masala for them. Why don't we keep these incidents a little low?

Just two days back in Guwahati, a young and upstart football team fought bravely before going down in the Fed Cup final against East Bengal. But nobody took any interest in Lajong or in East Bengal. Even during the Nehru Cup final last year, journos were more interested in Salman Khan, who was present at Ambedkar Stadium as Indian football's brand ambassador, and didn't bother about an Indian victory.

Let's accept it. We are pretenders. We don't care about any achievement. We stay awake for gossipy, raunchy news items. If that is the case, then why the media stayed quiet during all these years even after a young girl had committed suicide in Panchkula in 1993? Why are they now gunning for Rathore who should have been put behind bars long time back?

As far as these footballers are concerned, it is too early to comment on their unruly behaviour. No doubt, it was an unfortunate incident which may have tarnished even the image of the club (the sponsors have already decided to pull out). But it was too early to blow things out of proportion.

Let's wait, till the verdict is out.