Football fraternity in shock as HASC shut down temporarily

 The football fraternity of the City have expressed their shock following the temporary shutting down of the activities of Hindustan Aeronautics Sports Club (HASC).

Xavier Vijay Kumar, a former skipper of HASC, said it was a sad day but mentioned that he had noticed signs of rot while playing for the club in the Super Division earlier this year.
“It’s a very sad day,” the former India international said.

“I had an inkling that something was amiss when we were playing in the Super Division (this year). The contract renewals are usually done in April but this time they didn’t do that. They just took our numbers down and asked us to head home,” he reveals.

He also throws some light on the club’s disastrous Super Division performance (finished 8th best out of 9 teams with eight points from eight games).

“Most of the players weren’t very interested in playing and that is one of the main reasons why we finished where we finished (in the league) this season.”
But they have hope of making a quick comeback.

HASC, one of the winningest clubs in the history of Karnataka sports, would be back on its feet after it formulates a new sports policy, according to H Chandrashekar, the football club’s coach till he was let go.

“We will not field a team temporarily (in the Cups and the league) and to that effect HASC’s management had sent a letter to BDFA secretary ST Bhoopal.

“The management also wants to implement a new sports policy: fixing salaries and the signing of foreign players among other things and after that they will hopefully be back.”
Reacting to the temporary closure, the Karnataka State Football Association said that they couldn’t afford to support HASC if the club were to approach them for monetary help.

“It’s a very sad state of affairs but right now we aren’t in a position to afford (to help them).” AR Khaleel, President of the KSFA said. “Maybe in 3-5 years’ time, we can do something if they come to us for help.”

He hoped the HASC management would reverse their decision. “HASC have got a tremendous background and one can only hope the management changes its mind as soon as possible.”

Suresh Babu, HASC’s Sports Secretary, declined to comment.