CALCUTTA: Hungarian football coach Jozef Gelei, now training the Indian soccer team for the forthcoming Beijing Asiad has threatened to quit if the authorities running the affairs in the All India Football Federation do not improve their way of functioning.
A visibly dejected Gelei said AIFF after accepting his terms and conditions, was not following these in running the coaching camp. He however said he would take the final decision only after discussing the matter with AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, “Unless things improve there is no use of my staying and coaching the players here” Gelei said.
Gelei earlier refused to admit the local players who came to join his camp on the plea that they would be too tired to join the coaching camp after playing two big matches in the week.
He said from the very beginning he was against the idea of allowing the players to attend the coaching camp and at the same time allowing them to play toumament. However, on request from the AIFF he agreed to let his players play only one match a week. But all the local players selected for the camp were playing two matches a week and consequently getting too tired
He even said: “How can India improve their performance in the international arena if their players play far more matches than their capacity and practice very little.
“If I cannot improve the situation then it is better to quit with honour”, Gelei said.
Meanwhile, according to reports available, FIFA bas taken strong exception to India’s nonparticipation in. international tournaments, If India do not take partin the forthcoming preOlympic matches, FIFA might withdraw AIFF affiliation, the report added.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 3, 1990
