Churchill seek compensation

Pay the salary of player injured during natl duty

Churchill Brothers Sports Club have asked the All India Football Federation for a written assurance that any player injured on national duty will be adequately compensated by the AIFF.

“The AIFF should give us an assurance that they would pay the salary of the player if he gets injured while on national duty and is not eligible to play for the club,” Churchill Brothers CEO Macario Rodrigues wrote in a letter to AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das.

Gouramangi Singh, Lalrindika Ralte and goalkeeper Felix D’Souza are three Churchill players in the squad for India’s international friendly against Bayern Munich next week. The AIFF has, at least as of now, not taken Churchill’s request into consideration and instead pointed out to the club that ‘none of the regulations’ compel them to pay for the salaries of injured footballers.

Churchill Brothers then fired another salvo, this time pointing out that India’s International friendly against Bayern Munich in Delhi on January 10, was not discussed during the clubs meeting with the AIFF on October 10, 2011.

The exchange of letters between Churchill and the AIFF is a direct fallout of Sunil Chhetri’s injury at the SAFF Cup. Chhetri, his club Mohun Bagan claimed, was injured in the semifinals yet he was still fielded for the final against Afghanistan. “Sunil Chhetri was injured during the semifinal and he should not have been fielded at all for the final match. However, no discretion was exercised by the team management of the national side, which aggravated his injury to such an extent that he is ruled out of action for about 6-8 weeks,” Mohun Bagan Managing Director Anjan Mitra wrote in the letter to the AIFF.