MDFA scraps Mumbai Elite Division due to lack of teams

After months of not knowing if the Mumbai Elite Division would be played or not, the Mumbai District Football Association has decided to scrap the 2012/13 edition of the city league due to lack of teams able to participate as 10 of the 14 teams have other commitments at the time of the league.

Only last week the MDFA had announced that the league would be played from February 25 to March 16 with only seven teams as due to fixture problems there would be no participation from clubs playing in the I-League (ONGC, Air India, Mumbai FC) and 2nd Division I-League (Dodsal FC, Kenkre FC, PIFA) besides the Indian Navy.

This meant the Elite Division would have been played with Western Railway, Central Railway, Mumbai Customs, Union Bank of India, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers besides promoted outfits Maharashtra State Police and Companeroes SC taking part.

But then the Railway sides - Western Railway and Central Railway - pulled out due to their Inter-Railway Tournament commitments while Mumbai Customs also have an Inter-Customs tournament to play.

As per the MDFA an earlier date was not possible due to the renovation work at the Cooperage ground and non-availability of alternative venues. This left the Mumbai District Football Association with only four teams to play and therefore the MDFA decided to scrap the top tier division of Mumbai football, a sad first for football in Mumbai.

Mumbai Elite Division: No I-League or Division 2 clubs to participate

After months of not knowing if the Mumbai Elite Division for the 2012/13 season would be played or not, the Mumbai District Football Association has announced that the league would be played from February 25 to March 16, but due to fixture problems there would be no participation from clubs playing in the I-League and 2nd Division I-League besides the Indian Navy.

This means that defending champions ONGC besides former champions Air India and Mumbai FC plus 2nd Division sides Kenkre FC, PIFA and newly formed Dodsal FC would not be part of the league due to their national commitments, while Indian Navy have also opted out as they have to play in the Inter-Services tournament.

This means the Mumbai District Football Association organised Mumbai Elite Division would kick-off at the Western Railway ground, Mahalaxmi, from Monday, February 25 with only seven teams participating.

The teams, who will vie for the top honours this year, are Western Railway, Central Railway, Mumbai Customs, Union Bank of India, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers besides promoted outfits Maharashtra State Police and Companeroes SC.

The MDFA has also decided to complete league just within a month and the fixtures have been drawn up with the concluding league matches scheduled to be played on Friday, March 16.

The opening match would be between Central Railway and Union Bank of India at 1.30pm on February 25, followed by the second match between Western Railway and Mumbai Customs that day itself.

ONGC win Mumbai Elite Division!

ONGC are the champions of Mumbai! The Oilmen after having gained promotion to the I-League a couple of weeks back in Gangtok now won the title of the local Mumbai Elite Division yesterday with a 4-1 victory against Central Railway at the Father Agnel's ground in Vashi, Navi Mumbai.

The hero of the day was young striker Kailash Patel who scored a hattrick while Joel Sequeira added a fourth. The lone goal for the Railmen was scored by Dennis George.

With these three points ONGC finished their league engagements on 21 points to clinch their first-ever top tier Mumbai Football League title. Indian Navy finished second on 20 points ahead of Akbar Travels and Mumbai Customs on 19 points each with Akbar Travels in third due to their superior goal difference.

ONGC as champions received Rs 100,000 (1 lakh), while the Indian Navy got Rs 50,000 as runners-up and Akbar Travels will get Rs 25,000 for their third place finish.