It’s been a time of bad press for the All India Football Federation (AIFF). Just before the national team takes on Kuwait and Qatar in crucial World Cup qualifying fixtures, Shaji Prabhakaran, its secretary-general, was sacked. ‘Breach of trust’ was cited as the reason in the termination letter signed by Kalyan Chaubey, the AIFF president, along with vice-president NA Haris and treasurer Kipa Ajay.
Prabhakaran is a decorated and vastly experienced man in football administration. He has worked for FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation, besides heading the football body in Delhi. He is held in high esteem in many quarters. He was also one of the key figures who helped Chaubey win the election to become the president. He has denied any wrongdoing after being handed the termination letter and vowed to fight for the beautiful game in his own way in his initial response.
But, the AIFF executive committee didn’t even bat an eyelid while approving the decision to terminate his contract. It is the all-powerful body which ratifies or disapproves all decisions. Nobody present in the meeting at Football House in Delhi raised a question when the matter came up for discussion. Only one member said that the committee should be informed before such decisions are taken in the future.
It was an inglorious exit for Prabhakaran, who was appointed to the post about 14 months ago. RevSportz dug deep to find out what had happened and why. Prabhakaran was close to Chaubey until recently. However there were various decisions and factors which offended a lot of stakeholders in Indian football. And that is why this extreme step was taken. Here are some of the reasons.
Style of functioning: It is said that Prabhakaran was not open to suggestions. He would only do what he thought was right, and not listen to others. Soon after being appointed, he sacked some of the paid staff. Some others resigned. He brought in people of his choice, and this did not go down well with the AIFF members. The salary he gave to these employees was deemed high by the members. Eventually, these employees were handed pay cuts and some of them also left. However, it cannot be concluded with conviction that everything Prabhakaran did was wrong.
His salary: It is also said that Prabhakaran was vocal in questioning why Kushal Das, the secretary-general before him, should get a monthly salary of Rs 7 lakh. According to sources, he had said that it was too high. Then, he started drawing a monthly salary of Rs 12 lakh. When asked, he said that’s what a person handling such responsibility deserved. A lot of members took this as self-indulgence. Prabhakaran did not help his cause by insisting that this is what he must get for the job he was doing.
Core committee: The AIFF eventually formed a three-member core committee headed by Haris to oversee the activities of the federation. This committee made it clear to Prabhakaran that he could not make decisions unilaterally, and everything had to be ratified by it. This effectively meant that Prabhakaran was rendered powerless. He could not function with the authority he used to enjoy. This was demeaning for a person appointed to such a high post. It was the beginning of the end.
I-League telecast budget: This was hiked from Rs 1.5 crore to 8 crore. The reason was that the quality of the broadcast had to match that of the Indian Super League. Chaubey himself insisted on this. For telecast, each I-League club had to contribute Rs 5-6 lakh every fiscal year. The increased budget meant they had to shell out Rs 15-16 lakh. This was too much for these clubs and they were aggrieved by this decision. The broadcast quality remained equally unsatisfactory, and the AIFF then brought the budget back to 1.5 crore. What was this additional spending for then?
Bank balance: The AIFF did not conduct many of its tournaments during the Covid period. This meant a significant amount of money was saved. That was put in the bank in the form of fixed deposits. But when the new dispensation came to power, it raised the annual budget from around 80 crore to nearly 130 crore. There are whispers that one fixed deposit was broken. Members were displeased with this and asked how the federation could spend way above its projected earnings.
Note: This correspondent and RevSportz do not say that Prabhakaran was singularly responsible for everything that has been mentioned here. But these incidents suggest that he had ruffled too many feathers, which led to his dismissal. He did not know this and was in office on November 7 before the termination letter was issued. He was, in fact, preparing for the executive committee meeting, which, ironically, unanimously approved the decision to show him the red card.