The season of 2009-2010 will mostly be remembered for Mahindra United's decision to fold up and the Mumbai club's action has forced a few more I-League clubs to have a rethink about the viability of continuing a team spending crores without return.
Established clubs and former National league winners like JCT and Salgaocar, and newcomers like Viva Kerala and Mumbai FC have gone on a retrospection mode following the way I-League is being run over the years.
Their biggest concern is the poor visibility of the I-League and the shoddy way the games are planned, both for the television audience and the stadium-goers.
"We are not exactly thinking of disbanding the team at this moment, but surely we are having second thoughts about the feasibility of spending so much money," said a source from JCT, the only representative in the I-League from north India.
Similar sentiments are echoed by Babu Mather, a consultant with Viva Kerala, the only I-League club from the south. "We are facing serious financial problems. The I-League doesn't give us back anything. The visibility factor is almost zilch. There are hardly any spectators coming to watch the matches. The AIFF bosses are simply not interested to improve things."
Goan club, Salgaocar, is also not happy with the way things are being conducted. The news from Mumbai FC and Air India, too, are not quite hunky-dory.
It is high time the AIFF starts some soul-searching how to keep the clubs afloat else the state of affairs will reach a point of no return in a couple of seasons.
Source: Times of India
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Saturday 8 May 2010, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.