The format of the 2nd Division was changed last year (2011-12) to have the 2nd leg played at 2 separate venues ( Siliguri & Sikkim ) , this home advantage & RWFC's monumental fu#% up helped United Sikkim qualify along side USFC
In 2010-11 the finals round was single leg & played in Shillong , much to the advantage of home sides, Royal Wahingdoh, Arhima and Shillong Lajong FC ( had Langsning qualified from their group , it would have been 4/7 teams from Shillong !)
Whilst AFC has asked AIFF to run the 2nd Division as a proper league, lack of finances & lethargic attitude of I-league CEO has prevented this.
If the AIFF did change the format and have the last 8teams ( 6 from group & 2 relegated teams), we could have home & away legs for HAL, Chirag Kerela, Mohd Sporting, Dodsal, Wahingdoh, FC Aizawl, Vasco , SESA for example.
The costs for AIFF to have Aizawl play in Bangalore (HAL) would be around 3.5Lakhs , this is just money to be paid to Aizawl FC as per the current I-League standards, flight and accommodation for 3 days , 2 nights for 22 persons (18 players & 4 officials)
Adding the referee's expenditures ( 4 refs + match commissioner) & organizing expenditures ( transport for teams , officials, security etc) , AIFF would have a bill of 5 lakhs alone for that match !!
So Aizawl FC in 2nd Div with this format will cost the AIFF 35Laks for the 7 away games & 35 Laks for the home games, i.e 70Laks !!!
Ive chosen Bangalore as a median price , as Kerela to Aizawl is a lot more expensive & Aizawl to Kolkata is a direct flight, but even if we take the average for the other teams to be 50Laks,
The AIFF doesn't have 4 Crore rupees to spend on a 2nd Division & we know that IMG-Reliance will tell them to politely go **** themselves if they ask for that kind of additional money.
Of the 35 Crores AIFF gets from IMG-R , about 17Cr goes on I-League with 19Cr being brought in by I-League( Ten Action and regional Bengali & other channels)
so don't expect any drastic changes in 2nd Division just yet......
Well that just shows the amount of knowledge about expansion and how it works. And honestly I am not surprised because that is what most people on this forum are used to. Lucky me currently lives in a country that has mastered the aspect of having a very successful league and having no pro/rel.
Put let me just ask... how has pro/rel worked out for us. I will continue to point out the great year of 2010 when Shillong Lajong and Sporting Goa were relegated and ONGC and HAL were promoted. How did that work out? How about the likes of Chirag Kerala and JCT. If they were not relegated would they still be alive. I know Chirag Computers are assholes but they surely would not leave Chirag Kerala if they were allowed to stay in the league.
Also tell me, how has the 2nd Division been. Full of controversy and complaints. The crowds are low, standard is poor and structure is beyond shit. The money to make a full 2nd Division is far to much for the AIFF and clubs dont have that much to spend. Also what is the point of having a 2-3 month 2nd Division at neutral venues where 23 random teams compete in 6 games each (or 18 maximum). How fair is that. How does that show that this team is ready for the I-League. Also how does that show they are ready financially and fundamentally?
Clubs should be allowed in the league based on financial strength, ownership, management, location, and future plans. Not just on the field. Also why cant this club be made from scratch? Who cares if they are up and some state league clubs dont get up. If they cant show that they have the right things within the club then they should not be considered in the first place. Period.
A Quote from a BBC report on Beckham factor...here's a relevant fact :"The MLS has become a healthier league since his arrival. Average attendances across the division have risen from 15,500 per match in 2006 to 18,800 in the current season. The number of clubs has expanded from 13 to 19."
This from a country in which Football(Soccer) had to compete with Baseball, American Football, Basketball & Ice Hockey for TV and sponsor revenues..
The Indian obsession with the British & their colonial hangover continues....
From trying to copy the 1st Division & 2nd Division style, to hiring long ball Brit coaches, poor youth development, poor coach education.... ...
Countries like Japan, Australia, USA have all shown that there is more than 1 way to tackle the issue.... but will we learn.....
90% of the I-League teams don't have a qualified GK coach or a qualified fitness coach, with the exception of Jonathon at Mohun Bagan there are no football specific trained physios working in India !
None of the clubs have their own training ground , few have their own gyms.
But yet some feel if we have a tense 2nd Division and add another Kolkata team & another Goan team, we will be moving in the right direction as a footballing nation.....
And that is why I want a no promotion/relegation league... at least for now. Currently we are only allowing entry into the I-League based on the on-field performance but we need to realize that is not enough. The two countries that dont do pro/rel are the United States and Australia. Both clubs are considered 2nd tier in world football. They are not part of the elite but they are not bad countries. They are rising. The United States took a mainly MLS squad with them (specially in attack) and they went on to defeat Portugal, defeat Mexico and only lose 1-0 to Germany. The success is their. Australia's best players start off in the A-League and then move off.
Also going back to India, gaffertape is right, we will not move on if we keep adding more Bengali or Goan teams. Will they be the main provider? Yes but we need to also see that we are a country with a huge landscape and in order to get the best we need to go farther. Now the reason why a non pro/rel will that. First off how many teams (proper teams) do we have in India that are outside of Bengal and Goa. Off the top of your head you will name Dodsal FC, Aizawl FC, Kohima Komets, Delhi United, Quartz SC, Royal Wahingdoh, and South United SC. NONE of them are ready. Aizawl need more money before getting into the top league, they need a proper stadium, they need to market more and have ambition.
Dodsal FC are located in Mumbai and are only in it for the fame. Their ambition straight out is to win the AFC Champions League in a few years. Now that shows how much the Dodsal owners understand Indian football and Asian football overall. India wont be in the AFC Champions League for a few years while Dodsal wont be able to make a team good enough to win it. Yes you have 4 foreigners who were world renown but you also have 14 other players in your match-day squad that are Indian. How many Indian's are good enough for the AFC Champions League. And dont talk to me about how they will develop those players... tell me one big, big team that can churn out young players (14). You cant.
Also Kohima Komets. Great club, they also have an ambition and seem to connect to fans. The Pune FC of Nagaland. But they need more fans, the stadium in Nagaland is empty sometimes, their player quality is not as good and needs years to develop realistically and also the stadium is dirt. They need a proper stadium and training facility. And of course they need more money. Delhi United, again another good club who have ambition but they, despite being the closest to ready for the I-League, need to establish themselves in Delhi first. They need to market, they need to establish themselves as the team Delhi deserves. They are not their yet and if they get into I-League it will be poor.
Quartz SC. They are to young. Good logo, good players but they are to young. Let them learn to crawl before they walk. They need at least 2 years of planning and marketing before they can play in the I-League. Royal Wahingdoh, what have they done to connect to fans? They broken the rules and they have no identity online at all. Compared to their neighbors they are nothing. Players are also not good as well and they need more development as a club in terms of management before they can hope to create the "Shillong Derby".
South United. Again like with Quartz. They need to learn to crawl before they walk. Establish yourself in Bangalore and win the fans. Dont just jump straight into it, waste money on travel and all that and then lose out. They will be gone fast. Kochi FC number 2.
So their you have it. These clubs seem good at a glance but then when you think about it they still are a few years away from top tier quality. They need to establish themselves as clubs that really have ambition to join the I-League. Dont just show me you have good players. That is all well and good but also show me that you guys are in it for the long run. Show me that you have the required things... get the basics like a Head Coach, Assistant Coaches, Goalkeeping Coach, Fitness Coach, Physiotherapist, Club doctor, Kit manager, and Academy director. Have a board that is committed and have the necessary resources to survive long term in Indian football and try and help it out. Only then should you be allowed into the I-League.
Currently, and I know I have done this before a million times, I would like to see this. In 2013 the J.League decided that 2nd Division clubs that do not follow the licensing criteria by the end of the 2013 J.League 2nd Division will be forced relegated no matter where they end in the table.
We need to do that for I-League. The clubs that do not fulfill at least 75% of the AFC licensing guidelines by the end of the season are forced relegated. There are around 10 clubs who qualify under that (Pailan, ONGC, Air India obviously out and I am not sure between Sporting and USFC). The ones that do can stay and play while the others are gone. We play a 10 team league and gradually from their try to build the league. How we do it would be anyones guess. Personally I would like to then see the AIFF mark what states/cities that they want an I-League team in. If that place already has a potential team (Aizawl FC in Mizoram for example) then the AIFF can try and help them get ready for the league gradually. Not straight away.
No Mohammedan SC please, even though they can choke the stands with their supporters; because, 1) More than 2-3 clubs from a single place will do a lot of harm to the appeal of the league, 2) In this second millennium AD we really do not need football fans divided on religious lines, at least in India; whatever happened in the last century has happened, we need to move forward.
Now how to prevent 1): I propose a simple bar on the number of clubs from any city, say 3. If afourth club still wants to play in div 2, they can but will not be promoted unless there is a vacancy from that place.
There was some news about some new Franchisee club being promoted from Delhi. I wish some club from Chennai comes up. Last time we had Indian Bank from there with Sabir Pasha. Chandigarh is another place-after JCT left, we need another club from Punjab area.
Comments
The format of the 2nd Division was changed last year (2011-12) to have the 2nd leg played at 2 separate venues ( Siliguri & Sikkim ) , this home advantage & RWFC's monumental fu#% up helped United Sikkim qualify along side USFC
And yet another reason to get rid of the league completely. But wait... England does it.
Well that just shows the amount of knowledge about expansion and how it works. And honestly I am not surprised because that is what most people on this forum are used to. Lucky me currently lives in a country that has mastered the aspect of having a very successful league and having no pro/rel.
A Quote from a BBC report on Beckham factor...here's a relevant fact :"The MLS has become a healthier league since his arrival. Average attendances across the division have risen from 15,500 per match in 2006 to 18,800 in the current season. The number of clubs has expanded from 13 to 19."
And that is why I want a no promotion/relegation league... at least for now. Currently we are only allowing entry into the I-League based on the on-field performance but we need to realize that is not enough. The two countries that dont do pro/rel are the United States and Australia. Both clubs are considered 2nd tier in world football. They are not part of the elite but they are not bad countries. They are rising. The United States took a mainly MLS squad with them (specially in attack) and they went on to defeat Portugal, defeat Mexico and only lose 1-0 to Germany. The success is their. Australia's best players start off in the A-League and then move off.
Currently, and I know I have done this before a million times, I would like to see this. In 2013 the J.League decided that 2nd Division clubs that do not follow the licensing criteria by the end of the 2013 J.League 2nd Division will be forced relegated no matter where they end in the table.
Deb_Ban said:
No Mohammedan SC please, even though they can choke the stands with their supporters; because, 1) More than 2-3 clubs from a single place will do a lot of harm to the appeal of the league, 2) In this second millennium AD we really do not need football fans divided on religious lines, at least in India; whatever happened in the last century has happened, we need to move forward.
Now how to prevent 1): I propose a simple bar on the number of clubs from any city, say 3. If afourth club still wants to play in div 2, they can but will not be promoted unless there is a vacancy from that place.
NUTS!!!
How... he is right.
There was some news about some new Franchisee club being promoted from Delhi. I wish some club from Chennai comes up. Last time we had Indian Bank from there with Sabir Pasha. Chandigarh is another place-after JCT left, we need another club from Punjab area.