Men’s football tourney in March first week

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 19

After organising the Senior State Meet for Women in 2019, the Chandigarh Football Association (CFA) has now decided to conduct the same championship for men in the first week of March. However, what surprised the football fraternity is the whopping entry fee of Rs2,500 (per team), which is mandatory to participate in the championship.

The circular

As per the circular, “The association will organise Chandigarh Senior Football Men’s Championship in the first week of March 2021 and all clubs/units affiliated can participate in it. All clubs, teams and players will have to be registered with the CFA. A list of 20 players, along with the manager and the coach, with all documents, including date of birth and Aadhaar card, with entry fee of Rs2,500 should be submitted before March 3.”

Perhaps, it’s for the first time in the history of this championship that the association is charging this much amount. In Chandigarh, local affiliated sports associations get the stadiums free of cost for conducting affiliated tournaments. The CFA, which recently focused on conducting only baby football championship, is long due for conducting state championships of all age groups.

As per the circular, “the association will organise Chandigarh Senior Football Men’s Championship in the first week of March 2021 and all clubs/units affiliated can participate in it. All clubs, teams and players will have to be registered with the CFA. A list of 20 players, along with the manager and the coach, with all documents, including date of birth and Aadhaar card, with entry fee of Rs2,500 should be submitted before March 3.”

The president and the general secretary of the Chandigarh Football Association were unavailable to comment on the issue. “This is for the first time that the association has kept such amount for conducting a championship. I wonder if the matches would be league or knock out and the association would provide a decent diet to the players after the match. The UT Administration does not charge a single penny from state associations for conducting affiliated championships. In such scenario, there should be minimum entry fee so that more and more teams can participate,” said a coach.

Bhupinder is CFA vice-president

Chandigarh: The Chandigarh Football Association (CFA) has appointed Bhupinder Singh as new vice-president of the association with immediate effect. Bhupinder, a former Panjab University Campus Students’ Council president, is an advocate by profession. The letter of appointment was signed by the CFA general secretary. TNS