The Mohun Bagan fiasco

With the official report coming out of the AIFF office regading the revocation of ‘Mcdowell Mohun Bagan’s’ two year ban, it could be guessed that the AIFF is headed towards a lot of criticism from various sections of fans and the media. So I would like to spare those thoughts, and try to figure out if there is anything good coming out of this whole situation.

First off, I thought that a two-year ban on Mohun Bagan was a ridiculous decision first of all, but then it is understood that the AIFF were just following rule books set by them. It could also be argued that the general view point of Indian football followers was that the ban period should have been reduced anyway (after following extensive debates on Facebook), because everyone understands how important clubs like Kingfisher East Bengal and Mohun Bagan are to Indian football and the I-league in specific.

Before the AIFF or Mohun Bagan could come up with their official press releases regarding the decisions taken by the AIFF Executive committee, social networking sites and websites were already buzzing about the outcome. However, the official press release confirmed that MMB start with 0 points in the I-League, and are supposed to play 16 matches after paying a certain amount as part of “quantified compensation, damages and losses”, as described by the AIFF. My first reaction to such a decision was that 2 crore rupees was too less an amount to punish the club with (but then I decided not to ponder on that decision). The second thought was that all this might work out in East Bengal’s favour for their title challenge.

As per the fixtures, out of the remaining sixteen matches to be played by MMB they are supposed to play Churchill twice and once each with the remaining top four teams East Bengal, Pune FC and Dempo. Given the fact that Mohun Bagan has a pretty strong squad, and with the relegation battle looming large, Mohun Bagan would have to go for wins to secure enough points to move out of the relegation zone. A win, or even a draw with top sides like Churchill Brothers might benefit East Bengal after all.

However, the only concern is that a statement from the AIFF press release read: “Mcdowell Mohun Bagan shall have to play the remaining matches as per the fixtures to be determined by AIFF in accordance with its sole discretion.”