"The incident in Goa during IWL 2, should not be amplified to undermine the AIFF's developmental efforts in women's football"
That was Kalyan Chaubey, president of the All India Football Association (AIFF), in a statement on April 2. He was referring to the allegations of assault against Deepak Sharma, a member of the AIFF executive committee, by two players from Khad FC, a Himachal Pradesh team playing the in the inaugural edition of the second division of the Indian Women's League in Goa. Sharma, also the owner of Khad FC, was arrested by Goa police on Saturday on the basis of these allegations.
Chaubey's statement, effectively asking for the matter to be played down or hushed up, revealed, unwittingly, the very low bar at the AIFF (and most Indian sporting organisations) for the safety and wellbeing of all those - especially women and girls - in their charge.
But first, a quick recap of the incident itself:
The incident happened on Friday night and the official response was fairly swift: Early on Saturday evening, Union sports minister Anurag Thakur posted a tweet, asking the AIFF to take "quick" and "strong legal action". A couple of hours later the AIFF issued a press release stating that a committee had been formed to investigate the incident and that Sharma, who is also secretary of the Himachal Pradesh state football association, had been directed to "refrain from participating in all football-related activities until the conclusion of the committee's process."
Later that evening, Sharma was arrested by local police and booked under the relevant sections of the law.
Then came the AIFF's April 2 statement, which also said that Sharma had been suspended and that the matter had now been referred to the Disciplinary Committee.
A complaint was received in Police Station Mapusa wherein players of Khad FC, a football club participating in the Indian Women League, alleged that they were assaulted and misbehaved by the Team Manager during their stay in Goa. The main accused Deepak Sharma has been arrested pic.twitter.com/Hyv7EwYMw0
- In Goa 24x7 (@InGoa24x7) March 30, 2024
Why is Chaubey's statement problematic?
The statement started on the right note: "The AIFF is determined to promote women's football in a safe and enabling environment and will take all necessary steps to ensure this" before immediately going into how it should not be amplified. The rest of the statement then detailed what the current administration had done for women's football -- playing IWL home and away, introducing IWL 2, India's performance in a friendly tournament, and for some reason Manisha Kalyan's success in Cyprus (where she's won a second league title).
And therein lies the problem.
Leave aside the fact that what the federation has done for the women's football structure is a basic function - one of the reasons for which it exists - what does any of it have to do with the incident in question?
Neither does the suspension of an individual alleged of physical assault (and arrested for it) merit special acknowledgement: surely that's just the right thing to do.
If anything, the statement should have expanded on the discussions held on the matter, the steps being taken to ensure there's no recurrence, how exactly women's safety is being prioritised by the federation.
This reads even more strange when you consider the absolute silence that has followed the Alex Ambrose case. Ambrose, former assistant coach of the women's U17 team, was sacked for sexual misconduct and a case was registered under the POSCO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act. The current administration, which came into power shortly after the sacking of Ambrose, has not addressed this issue in any manner. An incident that should have prompted the very public, very wholesale introduction of changes from the ground-up has been buried and forgotten. Isn't it natural, then, that panic sets in when another incident comes to light?
The act of creating safe spaces for women is not a political punchline, but a very basic need. Even without the larger context of Ambrose and Indian football's problematic relationship with addressing women's football issues in mind, it's simply wrong to say that amplifying the incident in question undermines anything good the AIFF is doing.
All amplifying the issue does is get more people to question the nature of the incident, demand responsibility from stakeholders, and seek fair and transparent redressal -- an administration committed to the cause should welcome it.