KOCHI: FC Thrissur, citing uncertainty in fixtures that led to higher-than-expected expenses, has become the third team to pull out of the 2018-19 Kerala Premier League (KPL).
“We regret to announce the withdrawal of our club from the Kerala Premier League. This painful decision was taken by the management of FC Thrissur after carefully considering the consequences and the future of our club,” the statement released by the club read.
FC Thrissur currently second in Group A of the Kerala Premier League with two games remaining were against the participation of the Indian Navy in the league. According to them, the presence and participation of Indian Navy in the league was unfair to other clubs.
“The Kerala Football Association (KFA) brought Indian Navy to play the league when all other teams completed their league matches? Their whole presence in KPL was less than two weeks. This is unfair on other clubs. We feel that we are not treated equally. It is like bringing a fresh team to compete for the last lap of a 400m run,” the statement undersigned by club president Jason Francis further added.
Meanwhile, KFA secretary Anil Kumar said that the league will not be affected by FC Thrissur’s decision.
“If the club is not able to pay the salaries of the players, then isn’t it better not to play? These are obvious issues that can come up,” he said.
“The important aspect here is that if a club is formed for 15 days or 30 days or two months, then it is better that they don’t play in the KPL. It won’t help in supporting such clubs because they won’t survive. May 31st is the time to finish a season period. Registering players till 31st May is the club's responsibility. Teams are supposed to play till 31st. If teams started withdrawing then we will call off the league,” he added.
FC Thrissur were second in the table when they decided to quit the league.
The Thrissur based side has been participating in the league for the past three seasons. They were semifinalists last season and finished as runners-up in the 2016-17 season.
The club also stated that they had to bear heavy financial strain after the season was prolonged.
“Considering the prominence of KPL, we started our camp from October 2018 to field the best team for KPL and our budget to complete the league was 15 lakhs. However, due to the uncertainty with the fixtures, delays in commencement of KPL, we have spent so far spent a whopping Rs 35 lakhs.”
Last season’s runners-up Quartz FC had also pulled out of KPL because of the indefinite break due to the Santosh Trophy camp and qualifiers. The other team which pulled out of the league is SBI.