Mumbai, Nov 14: It can't get better than this. The Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) and the Mumbai City and Suburbs Football Association (MCSFA) have decided to confine their differences with the Western India Football Association (WIFA) to the sin-bin. Thus both MDFA and MCSFA would come under the WIFA umbrella and come April 2000, the city's football league will be run by MDFA as in the good old days when the sport enjoyed some of its finest moments.The foundations were laid a month ago when the MCSFA dissolved into MDFA which has a new committee now. With the season over now, the new committee would start functioning from April 1 next year.
Announcing the merger at a press conference last evening , Commander Kehar Singh, the president of MDFA, said the two bodies had seven meetings and sought to ring out the differences. ``Thereafter, we gave our proposal and handed it over to WIFA on October 24. They accepted the letter and have verbally assured of affiliation after putting up threeconditions.
``We agreed to WIFA's three conditions. Now the city's lower division football league can breath freely,'' said Kehar Singh.
The conditions put up by WIFA are: MDFA drops all court cases against WIFA, agrees to only three votes per district and The Maharashtra Football Association, a body floated by MDFA, be dissolved.
``We agreed to drop all the court cases because it was a no-win situation for everybody. We (the MDFA) won it in the lower courts, the WIFA obtained stay in the higher courts,'' said Kehar Singh.
With the constitution having stipulated one vote for 20 clubs and part thereof, the MDFA were left with ten votes. ``The WIFA wanted to regularise the vote to all districts. With the MDFA and MCSFA having a total strength of 186 clubs, there were 10 votes from Mumbai,'' explained Kehar Singh.
``We had started the MFA because after the MDFA was expelled in 1991, teams and players with us had no chance of representing the state. So the MFA came into being. The WIFA have plans tochange their name to MFA later and with the name already existing with the charity commissioner, it was difficult for them. They asked us to dissolve the body and we agreed,'' said Kehar Singh.
The merger means that teams playing in the MDFA will turn out in respective divisions. The Harwood league will be the Super Division with the elite division remaining untouched.
``Even the grounds will be distributed. The Cooperage will be used for the top two divisions, the Goans grounds and Xavier's ground for the the lower divisions,'' informed Kehar Singh.
THE MEGA MERGER
MDFA and MCSFA hold seven meetings, agree to sort out differences.
Put up proposal to WIFA on October 24.
WIFA sets three conditions for merger, MDFA accepts it.
MDFA to take over functioning of city football from April 1, 2000.
Super Division to be known as Harwood League.
MDFA top division teams to play in Senior, 1st in first division and so on.Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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