The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has planned to go it really big this time. Its head honchos decorated their house (Football House at Dwarka), chalked out a Professional League and announced it, and even invited Joseph Sepp Blatter, president of the sport’s world body FIFA. Blatter just landed in Kolkata, and the Pro League is set to be launched on October 1.

In the midst, there are these people, associated with the sport at various levels, who aren’t feeling all that comfortable about the Pro League. The overall view seems to point at the word “impractical”.

Bhaichung Bhutia should know. He has ruled the Indian football scenario for long, has played abroad, and has seen the struggle from both the blunt and sharp ends. “I am all for it, but you have to have the basics in place first,” he says, talking to The Sunday Express. “Dormant are very serious problems in the system in India, and not much has been done about it. And when a system is adopted, it is never adhered to. Things have to be practical and there has to be consistency.

“Moreover, while I have no problem with the professional contracts, since I am a full professional, there are too many players holding jobs. That is their security when their careers end,” said Bhaichung.

Former India defender and ex-Mohun Bagan coach Subrata Bhattacharya points to the same problem. “Gouranga Pal left Mohun Bagan to play for BNR Club (South Eastern Railways’ sporting club). Why? Because he says he’ll get a job that will serve him and his family right when his playing days are over. He says at his age professionalism means little to him, for his survival, for his family,” Bhattacharya says. “That’s the real truth in our country, the stark truth.

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