U-17 womens football coach faces charge of misconduct

Dhiman Sarkar , Kolkata An assistant coach of the India under-17 womens football team readying for the World Cup this year has been suspended pending investigation after allegations of misconduct with a player surfaced during the teams ongoing trip to Norway. The World Cup will be held in India from October 11-30. {{^userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} The coach, who is a former India player, has returned to Goa, and will be called before an internal disciplinary board of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), now under a committee of administrators (CoA), next week. AIFF officials, who asked not to be named, said that the issue came to light when the player, who is a minor, was not in her room for three successive nights. Manager Hilda Gurung and staff in the squad, coached by Swede Thomas Dennerby, searched rooms to see if the player was with any other team mate. But she could not be traced. The assistant coach, too, said the player was not in his room, leading to a harried staff contemplating filing a missing persons complaint. Not long after, however, the player was spotted leaving the assistant coachs room. A PTI report said it was Dennerby who informed AIFF about the assistant coachs behaviour. Given that this happened on a trip funded by the Union government, the Sports Authority of India, too, has been informed by CoA, PTI added. {{^userSubscribed}} {{{headline}}} {{/items}} State football associations, in a joint media release, have called for an FIR against the assistant coach on charges of serious misconduct with a minor, a life ban, and revoking his coaching badges. An event of misconduct has been reported in the U-17 womens team, currently on an exposure tour to Europe. The AIFF follows a zero-tolerance policy on indiscipline. As an initial action, the Federation has provisionally suspended the individual pending further investigation, a statement from the CoA said on Thursday. The AIFF has asked the concerned individual to stop all contact with the team and be physically present for further investigations. Following this charge of misconduct, state associations have also resolved to request COA and AIFF Administration to urgently appoint a Woman Safety Officer with immediate effect. This will instil confidence in the system for women players and women working in football especially with the national teams and in AIFF house, their statement said.We will be probing all angles including serial misconduct, said an AIFF official, asking not to be named. {{^userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} This is the third case of sexual harassment or misconduct in Indian sport in recent times. A woman cyclist accused a national coach with behaving inappropriately during a training trip to Slovenia. The coach was sacked and is facing a probe. A woman sailor has also accused a coach of making her uncomfortable during a foreign tour. Former India badminton player Aparna Popat said: The system needs to change. An ecosystem needs to be developed with mature people coming in, from the coaches to the federation. If tough decisions need to be made for this, they should be. I think we need to reach a fair conclusion in these matters, fair and quick. That is what Indian sport needs. {{^userSubscribed}}