AIFF's under-23 gaffe exposed

KOLKATA: The All India Football Federation's decision to make it mandatory for I-League clubs to include two under-23 players in their 18-man squad and include at least one in their starting line-up has turned out to be farce.While they have made it compulsory for teams to include an under-23 player in the starting XI, the teams are free to substitute the youngster at any stage of the game with an older player. United SC were the first team to exploit this loophole in the rule on Sunday. They started with Biswajit Biswas as their under-23 player, but replaced him with the seasoned CK Vineeth after just five minutes. Match commissioner Gulab Chauhan confirmed that United SC had not broken any rule. United SC usually field Mohammad Rafique as their regular U-23 player, but coach Eelco Schattorie did not want to risk fielding him for the 90 minutes as he has just recovered from an injury. United's other U-23 player Shouvik Chakraborty is away on office duty, so they had no option but to field Biswajit.