On a day of high drama at the AIFF Football House in Dwarka, New Delhi, there were a few shrugs at the end of a meeting between representatives of eight I-League clubs (with the exception of Shillong Lajong) and federation officials.

The day was off to an interesting start with a pre-meeting between the clubs at the Taj Vivanta nearby, with it being labelled “productive” by Minerva Punjab owner Ranjit Bajaj. These were promising signs for the league, as the teams have rarely seen eye-to-eye.

In the meeting chaired by AIFF vice-president Subrata Dutta and also attended by Secretary Kushal Das and I-League CEO Sunando Dhar, what ensued were sweeping changes proposed to the league structure with primary among them a change in foreigners allowed to a ‘6+2’ model for the squad, where the 2 stands for recruits only from Asian confederation countries.

Currently, this stands at a ‘3+1’ model, where there are a maximum of four foreign players allowed per team, in line with the AFC regulations. On the pitch, the new proposal is that five players of foreign origin be allowed, with one of those from an AFC-affiliated nation.

Kolkata clubs demand increase in foreigners on and off pitch

Quite a few of these owners/officials came out of the meeting looking thoroughly disgruntled. One said that the meeting was “hijacked”, another said “we were pushed into it”, a third merely asked “what can we do?”

At the centre of it all stood the officials from the two Kolkata giants, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.

In unison with the other clubs prior to the meeting, the two clubs led by Bagan’s Srinjoy Bose and EB’s Shanti Ranjan Dasgupta pushed for the increase in foreigners (from the looks of it, without the consent of the other clubs) while Minerva, Chennai City, Aizawl FC, DSK Shivajians and Neroca FC were opposed to it.

DSK’s Shirish Kulkarni was absolutely adamant as he came out of the meeting, “Yes, they’re proposing this but it’s not mandatory that we have to play with five foreigners. I’ll play my Indian players.”

Aizawl owner Robert Royte was even more blunt as he said, “I stick to what I said. I want the original ‘3+1’ rule. It is even more important for us as we are going to participate in the AFC Champions League this upcoming season. Foreigners are pivotal but we have many good young Mizo players.”

For the moment, it does seem that the two Kolkata clubs are trying to win the league by signing more foreigners, the others may rely on local talent to match them. One thing that all owners did agree on: the budgets, already stretched, are definitely going up this time.

Stadia conflict for CCFC, DSK, MB and EB

Another reason for clubs to accept the parallel functioning of the leagues seems to be the fact that officials from Chennai City FC, Minerva Punjab, Aizawl, Neroca FC and DSK Shivajians seem to have tied down many Indian players to long-term contracts. The players can only be released for the ISL draft, if there is to be one, with the consent of their parent clubs. Royte even stated that some of his younger academy players had seven-year contracts.

The league will start in November but with the now-parallel functioning of leagues there will be a few scheduling difficulties. All the clubs stuck to the point that Star India must broadcast their matches this time and that matches must take place on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, although some may have to look at alternate venues.

Rohit Ramesh of Chennai City FC was unperturbed when it came to the timing of the matches and admitted that playing matches on weekdays was fine but his club, DSK and the two Kolkata giants face an added complication with regards to the availability of stadia given the ISL-ILeague clash.

Chennai City and Chennaiyin FC share the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai, while DSK and Pune City FC share the Balewadi Stadium in Pune. The two Kolkata clubs were non-plussed about the arrangements surrounding the Yuva Bharti Krirangan. Alternate stadia used by the two clubs in previous I-League campaigns include the Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri, the Barasat Stadium and the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium.

Ramesh ruled out moving CCFC out of Chennai and said that he would have to consider his “options” with Kulkarni echoing a similar sentiment. At the end of the day, Sunando Dhar made it very clear, “Yes we had talks with these clubs regarding these issues but arranging infrastructure is the prerogative of the clubs.”

Subsidies and promotional amount to increase

Valanka Alemao of Churchill Brothers seemed to be pleased with how things turned around and confirmed that they would play in the I-League next season and added, “My father (Churchill Alemao) eats, sleeps and dreams football.” When asked about dwindling attendances in Goa, she said, “No Salgaocar, no Sporting Clube de Goa and no Dempo. This means we at Churchill have to be smarter.”

Kulkarni too responded in the affirmative and agreed that the DS Kulkarni group had been undergoing some financial difficulties, “The group is going through a rough time. But yes, we intend to play this season.”

Das had agreed to meeting some of the club’s demands, “Yes, we will increase subsidies and also the amount that will go into the central promotional pool,” and also added that Ozone FC, Jharkhand FC and a Kerala-based club had shown interest in joining the I-League.

The league committee will now meet on the 5th of July to evaluate these proposals. A day that was supposed to provide clarity turned out to be not so straightforward with more questions being raised about the sustainability of a model heavily reliant on foreigners. If Aizawl FC have proved anything in their title win, it is that a team filled with young, Indian talent can outlast, outfight and outcompete teams with more glitzy names.