National football skipper Bhaichung Bhutia on Thursday called for overhauling the domestic structure of the sport and said that players should be given universal contracts.
"We have not changed with time. Other countries have developed according to the change in football, which has become a very fast game. However the club system and infrastructure in India is way way behind," Bhutia said during a discussion on football at the India International Sports Summit in Mumbai.
People are working hard but they do not have enough knowledge about the game, he added. Citing an example Bhutia said, "We (players) had proposed a universal contract for footballers to the All India Football Federation five years ago but that is still to happen."
On the contracts signed by the clubs he said, "Club contracts are ridiculous and are against the players. That these are signed by the AIFF makes them scary," he said.
Bhutia suggested that state teams could be a part of the national league as they stood a good chance of getting support from their respective governments and were capable of developing a good side.
Both Bhutia and national football coach Bob Houghton, who also took part in the discussion, were of the view that the existing football tournaments in the country should be scrapped and there should be only one national league.
