After reaching Ahmadabad to take part in the group league matches of the country’s only franchise women’s football league, Indian Women’s League (IWL) the clubs found there will be no live telecast of the matches, scheduled to be held in the morning. 

The schedule has been set where participating teams are playing matches in a rotating system in two sessions in the morning and evening. The matches scheduled in the morning are not being telecast live.

The clubs like Kickstart FC, Eastern Sporting FC, Odisha FC and even Gokulam FC seem disappointed due to the non-exposure of the scheduled morning matches. One of the club executives told Parallel Sports on condition of anonymity, “Our sponsors, club’s top brass, several members who could not travel to Ahmadabad expected to watch the team’s matches live. But now we can see it only when our team will play matches in the evening.” 

There are other mismanagements from the organizational part. A few of the participating teams made complaints after reaching there. The participating teams are disappointed mainly with the service and arrangements made for them. One apartment has been allotted for five to six participating teams. As its reflection, almost each room has become jammed and congested. Additionally, the guest houses for these participating teams are at least one-hour-drive by bus from the grounds. Besides, complaints were submitted against the foods provided by the organizers. Even amidst the 40 degree Celsius, the teams are bound to have their and breakfast and lunch outside the respective guest houses, on a field where Pandals have been laid.

One of the team managers revealed on condition of anonymity, “If this is the promotion of country’s women’s football then it is unfortunate. Even, the foods were spicy. No non-veg item is being served. But everyone knows how much chicken stew or boiled egg is needed for a footballer. After we complained then the caterers are making the items without spice only. Coolers have also been installed in the Pandals to give us little bit of relief.”