I-League Division 2: A scandal riddled season

The second Division of the I-League ended on Tuesday, but this seasons Division 2 has had a high number of problems and scandals which often did not even make big headlines. Still these issues were there and shouldn't be simply forgotten then they should be looked into ahead of the next edition.

Mohammedan Sporting Club protest

After the draw with United Sikkim FC in their final game, the management of the Kolkata giants aledged that the refereeing was in favour of USFC and Baichung Bhutia. They said the former India captain influenced the match officials in his teams favour to ensure promotion.

Mohammedan Sporting president Sultan Ahmed, who is also the Union Minister of State for Tourism, claimed they have evidence and that they would lodge a formal complaint with the game's governing body, the AIFF and also write to the AFC and FIFA about the issue.


Gauhati Town Club disband team

The Assamese side Gauhati Town Club disbanded their senior football team following the participation in the preliminary round of the 2nd Division. The club officials claim to have prove that outstation players and foreigners took bribes from other teams to lose matches. This led to the drastic steps by the Gauhati Town Club management, who say they will only form a senior team again in three years time when their junior batch moves into the senior level.

But Gauhati Town Club did not lodge any formal protest, but took its decisions internally within the club and did not complain to the Assam Football Association or the AIFF with rumours saying that the management wanted to cover-up its mistakes and therefore made such public allegations.


Ar-Hima FC protest match fixing

The Shillong side Ar-Hima FC after the end of their preliminary round in Silchar alleged that United Sikkim FC had bribed teams to ensure their passage to the final round and played a weakened side in their final match against Aizawl FC after they had qualified earlier. While the first allegation was never proven and was dismissed by USFC, the second one is a non-starter then a team which has already qualified often will test its bench strength in such matches.


There are further allegations of match fixing and bribing of players doing rounds in connection with this seasons I-League Division 2, which aren't in the public domain. I just named the above as examples which are out in the open.

Now the above allegations are all serious which cannot be tolerated in football. They are out in the open and I feel the AIFF should look into these matters even if no written protest is formally send in. Then such allegations leave a bad taste which isn't good for football.