Schedule robs Tamilnadu of home advantage

Chennai: An unkind schedule has robbed Tamil Nadu of home advantage in the Santosh Trophy south zone qualifiers starting at the Nehru Stadium from Sunday. In a bizarre schedule drawn by the All India Football Federation, the kick-off for Tamil Nadu’s three out of four matches will be 3pm. The hosts’ only 5pm kick-off is against Kerala on the opening day.

Normally the home side gets some preference in scheduling at least to help them play in front of a big crowd. Strangely, Tamil Nadu have got only one prime time slot in the whole event. The 5pm kick-off is more convenient than the first match for most fans.

In addition, C.M. Ranjith’s team will have to deal with oppressive Chennai heat in three matches.

Ranjith was clearly upset with the fixtures. “More than getting a preferential treatment, I’m keen on getting a fair deal. We should at least have the second match slot twice. We will fight for a change in schedule,” he added.

The AIFF’s schedule is clearly flawed because kick-off time for all four Kerala matches is 5pm. How can Kerala, one of the top teams in the zone, enjoy so much advantage? Kerala and Karnataka do have another great leeway by playing the final match of the five-team round-robin league on February 3. As Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh will be playing the first match on the day, Kerala and Karnataka will know what they have to do to progress.

After the fixed match between Austria and West Germany at the 1986 World Cup, Fifa scheduled the final league matches in group stages simultaneously from the next edition. Holding league matches simultaneously isn’t possible in a country with poor infrastructure like India. But the AIFF’s fixtures can’t be harsh on one particular team.

Tamil Nadu Football Association secretary B. Ravikumar David said the state body had already contacted the national federation over the anomaly. “We have been told that the issue could be taken up with the match commissioner. A change in the schedule can’t be ruled out,” he added.

Ranjith and Co are also hoping that the TFA would be able to effect changes in the schedule.

SCHEDULE

January 26: AP vs Andaman & Nicobar (3 pm)

Tamil Nadu vs Kerala (5 pm)

January 28: Karnataka vs Andaman & Nicobar (3 pm)

Kerala vs AP (5 pm)

January 30: Tamil Nadu vs Andaman & Nicobar (3 pm)

Karnataka vs AP (5 pm)

February 1: Tamil Nadu vs Karnataka (3 pm)

Andaman & Nicobar vs Kerala (5 pm)

February 3: AP vs Tamil Nadu (3 pm)

Kerala vs Karnataka (5 pm)