KARACHI, Sept 7: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) expects an apology as well as some kind of settlement from TouchSky Sports (TSS), the organisers of the Clash of the Titans football series between Pakistan and India that was to be held in England this month.
The said to be postponed two-match series may as well be considered cancelled now what with the Pakistan Premier Football League being resumed shortly and India’s local league already getting underway. India is not available until the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup in December anyway.
“So the series can no longer happen this year. And next year’s calendar for both sides will have to be consulted once again before planning fresh encounters in 2012,” sources within the PFF told Dawn on Wednesday.
TSS’s taking a unilateral decision about postponing the series two days ahead of the Pakistan football team’s departure for the UK has left both the PFF and All India Football Federation (AIFF) very disappointed. Sources said that the PFF may even take legal action over the failure of the sponsors. Therefore they have also sent a notice to TSS Director Clem Leech informing him of their expectations after being humiliated by his company due to the sudden postponement.
“PFF had undergone major preparations for the matches with archrivals India including the organising of camp and calling of foreign players. And then we were suddenly intimidated on Aug 25 of the series getting postponed, a unilateral move on their part, and for no
fault of the PFF. We see this as a violation of agreement, causing irreparable loss to PFF’s income generation, not to mention our reputation and the disappointment among the players,” said the source.
“Be that as it may, we are looking forward to a settlement from TSS, now that the series is as good as cancelled and we have informed them of this in writing. Failure in receiving a convincing reply from them within seven days of Sept 6, when the notice was sent, may
result in legal action from the PFF, which is to be decided by their president, secretary and the executive committee,” added the source.
TSS had already paid for the squad’s tickets and appearance as part of their first two installments promised to PFF. They were yet to pay two more such installments when they decided to put off the event hoping to reschedule it next year. “But who knows what which team is doing next year,” wondered the source. “Besides, the federation isn’t even sure it can trust TSS after their goofing up like this,” he said.