The Super Cup saga just refuses to end in Indian football. While the disparity in fining clubs for skipping the tournament by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) was seen as an attempt to break the unified I-League group, it has now come to the fore that clubs wanting to challenge the fine imposed must pay an appeal fee for the federation to look into the request.
Speaking to IANS, an I-League club official said that when they approached the AIFF and asked them to relook the fine imposed, the federation asked the club to file a detailed appeal within seven days and also asked them to pay an appeal fee.
"We were told that if we want to appeal, we must do that within three days, so we followed the protocol. Then, they said that we must file a detailed appeal within seven days. But along with that, we were also informed that we must pay Rs 1.20 lakh as appeal fee," the official said.
Another I-League club official echoed the sentiments and also confirmed that they had deposited the appeal fee as they want the federation to look into their grievance. "Yes, they asked all parties wanting a relook into the decision to pay an appeal fee and we have followed that and paid the fee," the official told IANS.
The disciplinary committee of AIFF, in a unanimous decision on May 16, fined five clubs -- Gokulam Kerala FC, Minerva Punjab FC, NEROCA, Aizwal FC and Churchill Brothers -- Rs 10 lakh each for non-participation in the Super Cup. But Quess East Bengal was handed over a penalty of only Rs 5 lakh.
Fingers were pointed at the decision of the committee -- headed by Ushanath Banerjee with Haresh Vora, Adithya Reddy, Prateek Chadda and Madhab M Ghosh as co-members.
Quess East Bengal had told the disciplinary panel in its submission that the club could not participate in the tournament because of the refusal by its sponsor Quess to support the outing.
(Jagannath Chatterjee can be contacted at jagannath.c@ians.in)
--IANS
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