Clubs question BFF's master plan
The Dhaka-based football club officials have demanded that the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) takes reality into consideration before finalising its master plan and the annual calendar for Dhaka leagues.
The BFF, hit hard by a series of disappointing performances of the national team that reached its nadir following a 3-1 defeat against Bhutan recently, has decided to reorganise the domestic structure and competitions in an attempt to reviving the game. And in that context the game's governing body's technical and strategic director Paul Smalley has prepared a draft three-year master plan, which the BFF plans to unveil by December 10.
But some club officials, who took part in a series of discussions regarding the master plan over the last one week, expressed their reservations about the ambitious plan and its execution.
“You can formulate a nice plan which may be praised but it will not work if it is not in tune with reality. First you have to consider the problems that the clubs are facing to run their football activities. I can't immediately get out of the reality to implement all things the BFF is suggesting,” said Brothers Union manager Amer Khan after emerging from the meeting with Smalley on Tuesday.
Although Amer's observation was holistic, his focus was specific on the Bangladesh Premier League and the Bangladesh Championship League – the two most important domestic club competitions which involve 17 Dhaka-based clubs, two clubs from Chittagong and one from Feni.
“I am also involved with a Second Division side. The BFF asked us to participate in the players' transfer from December 7 to 13. But the question is how will we form teams as there are hardly any footballers available at the moment? Isn't it logical to start the second division league after holding a national competition such as the Suhrwardi Cup across the country? Then we will get a lot of players,” said Amer while pointing out one of the loopholes of the draft annual calendar for domestic competitions.
Victoria Club's joint secretary AKM Nuruzzaman observed that long duration of leagues is not financially viable for the clubs.
“The clubs are not only involved with football; rather they have multi disciplines to run. So this thing must be considered in the master plan. If the duration of the Bangladesh Championship League is extended to six or seven months instead of existing duration of three to four months, then it becomes too tough for us to bear the additional expenditure of the camp.”
Arambagh Krira Sangha's general secretary Ezaz Mohammad Jahangir even questioned BFF's ability to respect its own calendar.
“The BFF is giving a calendar to the clubs every season as usual but it has not respected it at all. How can we believe it would stick to the new calendar? It takes 10 months to complete a five-month league and for that we have to pay additional money to our foreign players. I can't trust the BFF because it never sticks to its original decision. That's why we are not giving much attention to the BFF calendar this time.”
Jahangir also advocated for the introduction of category system for the players in line with the Bangladesh Cricket Board to bridge the gap between the top teams and the lightweights.
“We have also proposed to bring top players (50) under a few categories in the way the BCB is doing, and we think if such a system is introduced, the difference between the top teams and the lower ones will be reduced and the league will be more competitive,” added Jahangir.
Regarding club licensing issue which features introduction of a youth team on the sidelines of a senior side, most of the clubs wanted flexibility considering their financial constraints.
“It is not possible for us to run two training camps – one for the seniors and one for the youth – simultaneously, rather it is better to start youth camp soon after the completion of senior team's engagements,” opined Rahmatganj Muslim Friends Society's general secretary Imtiaz Hamid.
It is beyond doubt that the Dhaka clubs are the biggest stakeholders of Bangladesh football. If our football is to rise from the ashes, the voice of these clubs needs to be heard and their limitations need to be taken into consideration for any sustainable master plan.
It is unfortunate that the two most influential clubs – Abahani and Mohammed – are yet to speak out loud. They have performed their academic duties, sending executives in a serious discussion when their whole-hearted inputs were absolutely necessary for the revival of the game in the country.
Amer was spot on when saying: “We need a long-term master plan, not a three-or-four year one. And considering the present perspective, crowd-pulling teams like Abahani, Mohammedan and Brothers Union need to come forward and bring back their supporters to the stadium.”
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