Jan 10, 2020
Kazi Salahuddin
For Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin, the match is yet to begin and he does not want to waste much time on the preparations.
‘I am a player of 90 minutes game, so I play in the field, focusing more on the game than preparations,’ Salahuddin told New Age on Wednesday while speaking about the forthcoming BFF elections.
Salahuddin is set to complete his third term as BFF president on April 30.
Unlike the former striker, his opposition group believes that the match has started much ahead of scheduled time and they are already 1-0 ahead in the game after thwarting an attempt to amend the constitution.
The BFF last month took an initiative of restoring the voting power of its executive members in the constitution through holding an Emergency General Meeting.
It was also discussed to add a provision that would make it mandatorily for any individual to hold an executive position in the federation for at least one year to contest for the president post.
If the two proposals were passed by councillors it would give Salahuddin a big edge in the election but under pressure from different quarters, the BFF had to back away from the move.
It means the elections will be held under the present rules, where anyone can challenge Salahuddin with the support of councillors. As it stands now that individual could be businessman-turned football organiser Tarafdar Ruhul Amin, who invested a lot in the game in recent years with certain ambition.
Saif Sporting Club Limited chairman and Chittagong Abahani Limited director Amin is currently leading two power blocks – Bangladesh District and Divisional Football Association and Bangladesh Football Club Association- which have a huge role to play in BFF elections.
BDDFA was formed in 2018 with Chattogram city mayor AJM Nasiruddin as president and Amin as general secretary while the latter brought dozens of clubs under the banner of BFCA as its president in early 2019.
Amin also provided financial support to district associations and clubs, organised some domestic and international football events, talent hunt programmes, and established a football academy to strengthen his support base while also remained as a loud critic of Salahuddin and BFF.
He, however, suffered a setback when one of his key allies, Arambagh Krira Sangha president Mominul Haque Shaeed, had to be replaced as BFCA secretary after being implicated in casino scandal.
Bangladesh Police Football Club official Sheikh Mohammad Maruf Hasan, an additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, replaced Shaeed in the post to give Amin finally some relief.
The attacking play of Amin gave Salahuddin certainly some headaches, though he could successfully defend his post during the last Annual General Meeting in October, BFF’s first AGM in the past three years.
Ahead of the AGM, two BFF vice-presidents Badal Roy and Mohiuddin Ahmed Mohi, both known as an ally of Amin, brought the allegations of financial irregularities against Salahuddin, but they could create nothing but a ripple in the meeting.
Amin said they had to approve the BFF budget and expense bills in the AGM for the ‘sake of football’ in an apparent sign of backtracking from the hard-line, something that raised the confidence of Salahuddin hugely.
The BFF president remained still optimistic about getting his fourth consecutive terms in the upcoming elections.
‘I will contest in the election and I am really hopeful. No one runs in an election if he is not hopeful,’ said Salahuddin.
But BFF vice-president Badal Roy, who contested from Salahuddin-led panel in 2016, said the BFF president lost the ethical ground to run in the election after he failed to fulfil most of his commitment.
‘We don’t want him [Salahuddin] as president as he failed to keep his commitment. He has lost his moral ground,’ Roy told New Age. ‘He has only charming visions but they have no real implication. He failed in all indicators. So we want a change,’ said Roy.
Salahuddin faced similar opposition before the previous elections when a complete stranger Kamrul Ashraf Khan secured 50 votes against him.
It remains to be seen if Amin can go one step further to unseat him in the next elections.
The match begins or not it is sure to end in stipulated 90 minutes – there is no scope for extra-time here.
