Sports Desk:

It seems to be the same old story, for women footballers. Mahfuza Akhter Kiran, the elected member of the newly-formed Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) and the former women’s wing chief of the federation, repeated the same old script in front of the media that she read two years ago after the women’s football team’s first SAFF title win in 2022.

After the team’s first women’s SAFF victory, Kiran – the then women’s wing chief – said that they faced tough situation to run the women’s camp, providing salaries to the women booters, arranging better training facilities and they even faced financial crisis to send the team in different competitions.

It was no different this time round despite the fact the team improved a lot within these two years, retained the title for the second time which is a rare feat in the history of Bangladesh sports as there is no such example of winning any titles two times in a row at the international level in any sports of the country.

“After winning the first SAFF title, I said our target would be to step forward to the next level and to defend the championship. We’ve done a lot of work between this time. We continued our camp though we failed to arrange practice matches due to the global situation,” Kiran told the reporters on Sunday.

“It is not possible for a lone federation to do all of these things due to the infrastructure of our country. We don’t have any ground. We can’t practice, where will we play? In such circumstances, football lives in Bangladesh and Bangladesh are the South Asian Champions – both are miracles!” she added.

“From 2012 to 2017, I and Kazi Salahuddin bore all of the expenses of the women’s team including their daily meals, transportation, sports gear, medical expenses and everything else. There was no fund, no sponsorships. Dhaka Bank came in 2018, before that we didn’t have a single penny in the fund,” she further added.

The veteran organizer said that despite their repeated effort they failed to get sponsors though many feel BFF need to take equal responsibility as it failed to take necessary steps for branding and promoting women’s football.

Kazi Salahuddin-led previous committee of BFF failed to convince the government and private sector to bring in women’s football. The committee failed to arrange the domestic league regularly, failed to popularize the league as well as to standardize it.

The committee even failed to arrange or send the team to international competitions or to convince the higher-ranked nations to come here. The committee was more interested in giving the councillorships to the participating teams rather than promoting the Women’s Football League.

“We personally sent letters to the clubs but we don’t have any right to force them (to participate in the league). They have to come willingly, but we can’t force them. I always want the girls to league, to earn more money,” Kiran said while asked her about the ongoing Bangladesh Women’s Football League.

“We need support from the government. Bangladesh football runs on sponsorships. Kazi Salahuddin sold his name and fame to get funds to run football. Even, I also tried my best to arrange sponsorships for women’s football. We told the previous government that we needed financial, and infrastructure support from them. I will say the same thing to this government,” she said without suggesting any plan and action to arrange funds from the government or the private sector.

“I’m thankful to the government that they accord reception to the girls, financially help them and they should stand by women’s football in the future. I hope current president Tabith Awal is also very positive about football, women’s football. He will also stand with the women’s football,” she said.

When asked about the women booters’ salary issue, she replied, “No federation gives salaries to the footballers. We give it because our context is different. We requested that FIFA share its funds to start the salary system for women. But initially, they hadn’t agreed on it. However, we convinced FIFA anyhow but I don’t know how many times they will continue it. Their contract ended this October.”

About the girls’ accommodation, she said, “The girls are currently staying in a dormitory on the fourth floor of the BFF. We need support from the government, if they help us and build an academy, then definitely the girls can stay there comfortably. We currently don’t have enough space. If the government builds a training centre like BKSP, it will be better.”

The head coach is also a big issue in women’s football. After the first title victory, long-serving head coach of the women’s team and the mastermind behind the first title win Golam Rabbani Choton left his job and now another mastermind Peter James Butler, who defended the title, is leaving his charges due to a brawl with booters.

“We want him (Peter) to stay. He is a very good coach. He is the best coach we ever got. Most of the previous coaches had bookish knowledge but he played in the English Premier League. There is a huge difference. I’m in communication with the coach, he understands what we want. Ultimately, he is also a human being. He said something emotionally after the brawl. It should not be counted.  My task was to coordinate between him and the girls. I did it during my election,” said Kiran while asked if the federation wanted Peter to stay here.

Kiran also said that she would not force the new committee to allow her continuing in her previous change as the women’s wing chief.

“If they give me responsibility, I will welcome them. If not, I will also welcome them. They will give me what they think is worthy of me. Why do I force them? I will not force them. If the committee thinks I’m worthy of it they will give the responsibility. If they get someone better than me, they will give someone that opportunity,” she concluded.

If the women’s team is still facing a lot of obstacles, then a question would come forward, why are the same things taking place after two years? Who is responsible?