We need a big change in UPFS’ set up: Ex-star Akhtar
LUCKNOW:With the aim of infusing a new life into football in the state, a number of stake holders have started making efforts as things never looked easy in the Uttar Pradesh Football Sangh (UPFS) over the last two decades.
A series of alleged corruption, including the molestation of both men and women footballers, scribbling unusual thing on the certificates of merit, denying selection to the right persons, and allowing people of a certain section to grow in administration etc., have been the routine description of the activities in the sporting body.
This all could start again following the death of long-standing secretary general of the sporting body Mohd Shamsuddin early this month. Now, All India Football Federation as well as Uttar Pradesh Olympic Association seems to have agreed to ‘correct’ the system as the sporting activities had been limited allegedly to one location and also to a select few.
“Yes, we all need a change in UPFS system as for the last many years Uttar Pradesh has no serious existence even in the domestic circuit. Most of our top players, including a few internationals including me, have migrated to other states or organisations as they were never given their dues in the state,” said former international footballer Naseem Akhtar on Tuesday.
Akhtar, a former goalkeeper who played for India at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, also said the need of the hour in UPFS was to ‘clean the corrupt system’ and bring professionalism. “No league, no tournament and some people have converted this UPFS as a private limited company and running in on their whims and fancies but this isn’t the way to take the game forward,” he said.
“There is no dearth of talent in the state but there are forces who don’t want the UP football to grow. This is the high time when like-minded forces should come together and work unitedly for the betterment of the UP football and footballers,” added Akhtar who has currently been working with the Kolkata’s Mohammedan Athletics Club.
Akhtar, who also hails from Varanasi and owns the pride of leading Uttar Pradesh to the quarterfinals of the prestigious Santosh Trophy National Championship twice in 2010 and 2014 before being suspended from the state, also offered his services to run the football in the state.
“If somebody asks me to come forward and run the show in Uttar Pradesh, I would love to do so as my heart beats for my own footballers and my first target would be to bring curtains on all the opportunist forces in the UPFS,” he said, adding, “The situation is worst in UPFS and a drastic change in the present set up is a must.”
Akhtar, who has fought a prolonged legal battle against Shamsuddin ever since he was suspended for demanding better facilities for state players, alleged that some officials in the UP Sports Directorate and AIFF “were hand in glove with Shamsuddin”, who had been running the UPFS like his “own company”.
“The international football federation (FIFA) follows an eight-year term for its office bearers but here in UPFS some people have been at the helm for more than 40 years. The UPFS has become a family business for Shamsuddin and Co and nobody dare speak up against them.”
“World over the game is growing but here in Uttar Pradesh footballing activity is almost dead. UPFS officials harass players in the name of giving participation certificates for national competitions,” said Akhtar, who is still waiting for his participation certificate for the Santosh Trophy. “I was victimised by the corrupt system,” he alleged.
Bronze medallist at the SAARC Cup and LG Cup, Akhtar says there is no dearth of talent in the state, but Shamsddin had made UP football his ‘business tool’ and that’s why no more talent had been coming up at the national level in the last 20 years.
Secretary, Upcoming Players Soccer Academy, Satyendra Singh too criticised the present system in UPFS and emphasised the need of a visionary change in its set up.
“Professionalism is a must. We can’t only depend on the state government’s funding. Being the king of all sports, football world over is growing on the support of the common man and UPFS should also grow on its own,” he said. Singh, who has been looking after a serious and regular football activities in schools located in rural areas in and around the Varanasi district through his academy since 2016, said his experience of running the UPFS in a better manner would be an asset.
“If I become secretary, I have a strong vision for the development of football. I have a series of good people to mange things properly,” he added.
“Ask the present lot of people in UPFS about the football and they would say: Football ka niyam Babbu Bhai banta hai….It’s a pathetic situation of the game in the state,” he added.
HT’s repeated attempts to contact UPFS joint secretary Mohd Shahid for his comment on the issue proved futile.