Is the cash flow political?

Before the 2016 polls of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), the Kazi Salahuddin-led panel made a 25-point pledge that kept District Football Leagues (DFLs) on the top of its list of priorities. The DFLs, however, have only caught the attention of Salahuddin in the third year of his third straight stint as BFF president.

Since their separation from the government-affiliated District Sports Associations (DSAs) in 2008, the District Football Associations (DFAs) had been overlooked, resulting in a narrowing in the pipeline of footballers with no football leagues at district level. DFAs have been sitting idle because they have not gotten financial assistance from the BFF or the government.  

Over nine years -- 2009 to 2017 -- most DFAs had hardly staged district leagues, except in the 2014 and 2015 seasons, during which the BFF provided funds by roping in Prime Bank and Nitol Tata Motors as sponsors. Most of the DFAs were then given Tk 3 lakh per season to complete their respective leagues and two years later, the BFF in the 2018 season provided money again to DFAs with Tk 1.42 crore aid from the government. 

However, the story is different for the 15 to 18 districts who have actually kept football alive. They have supplied players to different Dhaka clubs and have been holding district leagues regularly, regardless of whether they received financial assistance.

The good news is that most DFAs have once again started coming back to life in the wake of financial help from the BFF as well as funding from the Bangladesh District and Divisional Football Association (BDDFA), an organisation of DFA organisers across the country. Each DFA that staged a league was rewarded with nearly Tk 5 lakh -- Tk 2 lakh from BFF and Tk 3 lakh from BDDFA.

Of the 64 DFAs, approximately 45 had already completed their respective leagues by December 2018 while some leagues are still ongoing. But the DFAs at Munshiganj, Gazipur, Narsingdi, Shariatpur, Kishoreganj, Cox's Bazar, Chuadanga, Kushtia, Moulvibazar and Sunamganj did not stage leagues.

However, most DFAs completed their leagues within a short period, staging it in the format of a tournament rather than participating teams playing each other in a league format. 

Both the BFF and BDDFA are happy with the completions of district leagues and promised to keep their financial assistance flowing in the coming season and also to strengthen their monitoring.

However, Sherpur DFA president Manik Datta believes both BFF and BDDFA have taken this initiative only because the BFF polls are coming up, but he demanded financial assistance from the game's governing body every season.

“I asked the BFF secretariat time and again to hold the annual general meeting (AGM) so that we, DFAs, can raise our problems but the BFF paid no attention to it,” said Datta. “They are providing money because the next BFF polls are knocking on the door.

“However, our expectation is that the BFF will provide financial help to all DFAs every year instead of just the year leading into the elections,” said Datta, adding that he staged the Sherpur league six times in the last seven years with or without the governing body's help.