Arrows disbanded

In yet another blow to Indian football, All India Football Federation was on Thursday forced to disband its developmental outfit Pailan Arrows due to lack of financial commitment from its sponsors.

“The sponsors (Pailan Group) are still yet to make any financial commitment. The infrastructure (at Pailan in the outskirts of the city) is in bad shape... We have no option but to pull out the team. So, there will be 14 teams in the I-League 2013-14,” said Kushal Das, AIFF general secretary.

Das, however, added that the future of the 20-odd contracted players would be secured as the AIFF would continue to pay their salaries. “They are contracted with the AIFF and would continue to get salaries. Some of them would play for I-League clubs while others will play for India Under-23 side,” Das said. Formed in 2010 as the Indian Arrows, with the main goal of nurturing young talents in view of 2018 World Cup, the team had appeared in three seasons of the I-League with mixed results. “As it is, this would have been the last year of the team,” Das said.

The decision was taken at an AIFF meeting after an acute financial crisis at the Pailan Group. “Such was the condition that the players were not offered food and had to manage on their own a few days back,” an AIFF source said.