Delhi’s Elite put on hold?

Bhatia also said the Ambedkar Stadium,which is going to host the national camp and the Nehru Cup needs some time to regain international standards

“Moreover,the AIFF has requested us to reduce the load on the Ambedkar Stadium so that it regains the standards suiting an international tournament like the Nehru Cup. We also wanted to give the teams participating in some more time to prepare,” Bhatia added.

One of the top two teams among the eight to rub shoulders in the league,however,said the move,if taken,is not going to be of any help and only reflects the lack of interest.

“He (Bhatia) will not be doing anything extra for the teams if he postpones the league. He’s only following the AIFF schedule which has the transfer window for June. We would be able to avail the window and be prepared for the league,” said DK Bose,secretary of DSA joint champions Hindustan FC.

“The turn of events shows there was no planning in the first place. The league is supposed to begin in July but we haven’t received any formal invitation. Delhi was chosen along with Manipur and they have been running it for four-five years,” he added.

The DSA also needs its amended constitution to get AFC’s approval and a DSA source said the managing committee has passed on the changed constitution on more than one occasion but the DSA hasn’t taken the steps needed thereafter.

“The constitution has been amended and cleared by the managing committee at least thrice,but the DSA has dumped it. Now they don’t have to the time to do all this before July,” he said.

Refuting the allegations the DSA said the revised constitution has never been given to the managing committee and it has enough time to get it cleared by the AFC.

“We are going to get the revised constitution passed this time and it has never been put up with the managing committee before this,” Bhatia said.

In case the league is postponed then the association might well have to tinker with the schedule further as the Nehru Cup is followed by the Durand Cup and the DSA league.