Rangdajied I-League spot in doubt

SHILLONG: Rangdajied United FC’s place in the next season of the I-League appears to be in doubt after the club did not submit documentation necessary for their club licensing to the All India Football Federation on time.
An inspection team from the AIFF was in Shillong last week to look over Shillong Lajong FC, but Rangdajied were not included as they did not adhere to the deadline set by Indian football’s governing body.
The online documentation procedure was to be completed by all clubs by March 12. However, RUFC could only send the documents the next day after experiencing difficulty in uploading the files online.
“We did fulfill the licensing criteria but we finished on the 12th but we couldn’t upload the documents. We did send the hard copy of our document on 13th morning,” club general secretary Karsing Kurbah was quoted as saying on goal.com.
The AIFF has made suggestions to the clubs that did meet the deadline based on observations of the inspectors.
Sunando Dhar, I-League CEO, was blunt when asked why Rangdajied was not inspected.
“You don’t send papers, we don’t inspect you,” he said.
Almost every club in the I-League failed to meet the licensing criteria before the start of the current season, but were given waivers by the AIFF. At the time of the waiver, the Federation had stated that it was a one-off exemption. Pune FC were the only club to meet the criteria last year.
The clubs have to meet various administrative, sporting and legal criteria, besides that of infrastructure, which for Rangdajied and Lajong is centred around the facilities at the JN Stadium in Polo Grounds.
A decision on whether to belatedly conduct the inspection of the Blues will be taken later.
Rangdajied have shown strong fight in their maiden I-League season, battling from the relegation zone to eighth place in the table, and although they are not safe from the drop, it would be a massive blow to the players and fans to be punished for the club missing an administrative deadline.