By A Sports Correspondent NEW DELHE: Punjab will have to prepare a completely newest of players for the next National Football Championship to be held in Cuttack. This will be a sequel to the recent decision of the All India Football Federation restricting the Santosh Trophy to players below 23 years.

Punjab however, will not be an exception. Almost every State team will have to discard their tried and tested stars and rely on a fresh lot. In fact about 80 percent of the State players who took part in the last championship in Assam will not be eligible to represent their state

In recent years Punjab has depended heavily upon the strength of their stal wards. Tobe fair to them, these stars did contribute richly to keep the State among the top notches It will indeed be ironic that the axe should fall on players like Parminder Singh, Paramjit Walia, Bibas Saha, Darbara Singh, Jagmohan and several others. Despite 1g past his prime, Parminder is still a force to reckon with, In fact the whole team clicks through his efficient midfield play. Darbara and Saha are national stars but will be forced to stay on the sidelines because of the age bar. Several officials and players in the Capital are critical of the treatment being meted out to the experienced players.

“Certain units will try to manipulate the certificates as is being done at junior levels,” remarked a club official,

The Football Federation should not have disturbed the Santosh Trophy but should have started a new tournament for under23 player sif the aim was to lay tress on youngsters,” said another official.

Bengal will be no less hit than Punjab. Bengal won the Santosh Trophy two months ago but for the next National Championship only two players of this team would be eligible to play next year.

Interest of the football fans to watch the national championship could also wane as they will not find most of their favorite players in action.

“Thank God the experiment of imposing an age limit is only for one year” commented a promising player who felt that he may not be able to compete in more than two or three nationals at the most. He felt that he would become ineligible when in {op form.

‘When Inder Singh became the top scorer ‘of the National Championship at Jalandhar in 1974 he was over 30 years old and kept playing good soccer for another few years. Brahman and has been playing for go a under the bar for 15 years and is still said to be the best in Goa.

The new rule is not likely to serve the interests of soccer.

Article extracted from this publication >>  June 23, 1989