AIFF's centralised player registration system's downside

I have been surprised at how many reactions I have received for an article I wrote last week about the AIFF finally implementing a centralised player registration system for India. I wrote and still think that such a centralised player registration system should have been in place many years back and its better now than never. But after being in touch with many different people, I now feel that the AIFF needs to have a re-look at the fee structure.

The annual fee has been set by the AIFF is as follows

- INR 15,000 for Professional Foreign Players- INR 10,000 for Indian I-League Players- INR 5,000 for Indian I-league Second Division Players- INR 5,000 for State League Players- INR 5,000 for Amateur Foreign Players- INR 2,000 for State Association players- INR 500 for District League players- INR 200 for Academies/Football Schools (from 12 years of age onwards)

Now the fees for professional footballers, foreign and Indian, are fine since these players earn in lakhs, the clubs pay them in lakhs. But if you go down the ladder, INR 500 for a district league player or INR 200 for a Academy/Football School kid could be just too much for them to play football at all.

In many states a lot of clubs, academies and football schools are run for nearly nothing at all. A club, which pays nothing to its players cannot mantain a team of 20 players, for which registration would be INR 10,000 per annum.

But scademies and football schools in the metros, who charge their kids might again be in a position to pay the fee or rather the parents of those kids.

One thing is sure, we need the system,but the AIFF needs to have a re-look at the financial aspects. Otherwise, certain people might no longer be part of the Indian football system.