I-League 2013/14 - Winners, Losers And Talking Points So Far

With I-League half way through and the clubs getting ready to play in the Federation Cup, here is a look at the big winners, losers and the major talking points.

2013 was an eventful year for the Indian Football fans, particularly the second half which brought forward the divide between IMG Reliance, AIFF’ s commercial and marketing partners and the I-League clubs. The I-League format was changed to a conference model type format only to be brought back to the original league format after the protests by the club. Several players chose to join the IMG-Reliance bandwagon and with clubs presenting a unified face initially, the players were not signed by the I-League clubs. The transfer season also brought in a plethora of new foreign players and Bengaluru FC, a JSW owned club were also added to the I-League. With I-League half way through and the clubs getting ready to play in the Federation Cup, here is a look at the big winners, losers and the major talking points at the half way stage.

Big Winners

Bengaluru FC and Sunil Chhetri

Sunil Chhetri - Bengaluru FC striker — Bengaluru FC’s Sunil Chhetri

Table toppers Bengaluru FC have been the biggest winners of the first half of the 2013/14 season. A lot of doubts were raised over the performances of the club at the start of the league but the Garden City based club has dished out some solid performances under the tutelage of Ashley Westwood. The Men of Steel have utilized the flanks effectively with Ai??Beikhokhei Beigaichho and Malemnganba Meitei whipping in crosses from the flanks.Ai??Beikhokhei in particular has been in impressive form throughout the league. The defense has been led byAi??John Johnson. The lanky defender has managed to keep the opposition strikers under check and has himself bagged a handful of goals from the set pieces. Apart from their performances on the field,Ai??Bengaluru FC has managed to create a loyal fan-base in the IT City with some innovative ideas which include players-fan interaction at pubs and coffee joints, organizing trips to away matches, marches to the stadium on match days among others.

The talk of the newly formed club will be incomplete without the mention of skipper Sunil Chhetri, another big winner at the half way stage, who has rediscovered his scoring boots at the club after a rather slow start to the league. The Indian skipper is now the joint highest goal-scorer in the I-League with nine goals and in a league dominated by foreign strikers, this is a welcome sign.

Sporting Club de Goa

Second placed Flaming Oranje are another club who have gone into the break on a high. While the likes of Dempo, Churchill Brothers and Mohun Bagan have struggled to get their season going, Sporting club de Goa have shown how success can be achieved despite a modest budget. The club has been rewarded for pursuing their youth development policy and keeping together a talented bunch of players. Sporting haven’t over-relied on their foreign players unlike the other teams and the Indian players in the team have stood up to the task whenever they have been called upon. The likes ofAi??Victorino Fernandes and Dawson Fernandes have been rewarded with national team call-ups whileAi??Pratesh Shirodkar, Jovel Martins and Rowlin Borges have also bagged attentions with their performances. A lot of credit for Sporting’s upsurge goes to their Spanish coachAi??Oscar Bruzon who with hisAi??unique way of training sessions and shrewd tactics had turned them into a force to reckon with.

Big Losers

Churchill Brothers

Nothing has gone Churchill Brothers way ever since they won the I-League. The club let go off its Technical Director Subhash Bhowmick after an argument with the club owner. Experienced players like Beto, Tomba Singh and Steven Dias were also released or let go. Churchill Brothers have paid the price for playing with a settled combination. New Technical Director Sukhwinder Singh resigned 4 games into the I-League andAi??Subhash Bhormick was brought back. The Goan club has seen at-least 10 foreign players don their jersey this season which has been the major reason for their instability. The club is languishing at the bottom of the table. The team looked rusty and the coordination among the players was missing. Ai??The issue of non-payment of players has surfaced in the media and this hasn’t helped the team’s cause. As the club goes into the Federation Cup, the team will yet again see some new foreign players, some of whom are big names compared to the I-League. It however remains to to be seen how they gel with the team and whether they can help Churchill Brothers revive their season.

Dempo & Arthur Papas

Arthur Papas has his work cut out — Dempo manager Arthur Papas (above) has had his work cut out

The most successful side in the I-League, Dempo Sports Club, were expected to start their I-League campaign on a strong note afterAi??having roped in Arthur Papas as their head coach in the transfer season in a move that was well covered by the media. Half-way into the season, Arthur Papas has failed to galvanize the side and the Goan giants are languishing in the bottom half. The foreign signings of Billy Mehmet, Simon Colosimo and Honda have failed to perform as per the expectations and Mehmet and Honda have already been released. A lot of blame for the under performing foreign players will go to Arthur Papas as he was given a free hand by the Dempo management in selecting players. The news of rift between Papas and some senior players had a negative impact on the team and the fiasco surrounding Cresson Antao ‘s removal from the team after an argument with Papas also didn’t help the team’s cause. Papas was missing from a lot of matches and was back in Australia even as Dempo continued to struggle. Dempo management has continued to be in support of Arthur Papas despite the team’s struggle and the onus will now be on the Australian to deliver in the new year.

Major Talking Points

Signing Of IMG Reliance players In Middle Of The Season

Several Indian players signed contracts with IMG Reliance for their proposed tournament and with the clubs under IPFCA deciding not to sign these players on loan, the I-League began without these players. These players included Indian internationals Sandesh Jhingan, Manandeep Singh, Tomba Singh, Gouramangi Moirangthem, Nirmal Chettri, Rahim Nabi and Subrata Paul. With the uncertainty over the proposed ISL tournament growing, Mohammedan Sporting, who were struggling at that time, signed five players on loan thus breaking away from the IPFCA. This was followed by signing of IMG Reliance contracted players byAi??Rangdajied United and Mumbai FC.

Subrata Pal and Gouramangi Singh have changed the season for Rangdajied United

Rangdajied United have looked a different side after they signedAi??Manandeep Singh, Tomba Singh, Gouramangi Moirangthem andAi??Subrata Paul while Mumbai FC have too benefited from signings of NP Pradeep and Mohammed RafiAi??, both of whom have been among the clubs. The dynamics of the I-League have certainly undergone a change with the IMG Reliance players coming and Rangdajied United who seemed the weakest side in the league at the start are looking stronger now. Even Dempo have gone ahead and signed Sanju Pradhan on loan. The introduction of IMG Reliance players will surely remain a major talking point and whether it was fair on the other clubs will be debated for a long time in future.

Crowd Violence

Crowd violence and disturbance has been the top controversy this season with Kolkata, Goa and Bangalore all witnessing crowd troubles. The talk about crowd trouble reminds one of the December 9 , 2012 where Syed Rahim Nabi was hit by a missile in an ill-tempered Kolkata derby.Ai??Mohammedan Sporting were punished for crowd violence in their matches against Dempo and Bengaluru FC and a fine of Rs 80,000 was levied on them. In the match againstAi??Bengaluru FC ,Ai??Mohammedan fans threwAi??bottles, chairs and stones which led to Sunil Chhetri tweeting

“Very very disappointed by few fans throwing stones at the ground..you can be passionate,u can curse and abuse but throwing stones is..Dangerousai??i??nabi,Collin,me or rino anyone could have got seriously injured..itai??i??s an humble request guys please be sensible before something.”

Goa also witnessed ugly scenes when Salgaocar fans threw bottles at Bengaluru FC players after the home side lost the match. A few rounds laterAi??Bangalore witnessed similar scenes asAi??Bengaluru FC supporters threw bottles at East Bengal players accusing them of time wasting tactics during their 2-0 win overAi??Bengaluru FC.Ai??Bengaluru FC were fined Rs 20,000 for this.

2014 is likely to witness a thrilling end to the I-League with any team capable of beating any other. It remains to be seen if Bengaluru and Sporting hold on to the top spots or whether East Bengal, Pune FC and other clubs challenge them for the title. The other end of the table is also likely to witness a dog fight for escaping the relegation.

I-League 2013/14 – Winners, Losers And The Major Talking Points So Far

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