A special general assembly of NRT held at its office in Tripureshwar on Saturday took a decision to the effect through an overwhelming majority citing financial crunch. The four-time league champion established some eight decades is deep in debt.[break]
"The special general assembly of the club has decided not to participate in any football activity for at least a year," Binay Pradhan, the general secretary of the club, said about the club´s decision.
Of the 43 members with voting rights, only nine were in favor of playing football while 34 were against it.
Along with Pradhan, CEO Narendra Shrestha, team coach and member Diken Suwal were present during the press briefing. President Narendra Shrestha, who is also the vice-president of football governing body ANFA, did not show up and could not be reached for comments.
"The club has to pay a debt of Rs 17.3 million, including Rs 14 million to Himalayan Bank and Rs 3.2 million to members. If we continue to play we won´t be able to repay the debt even in 10 years, but if we take a break for one or two years we can pay off all our loans," said Pradhan.
Not only NRT, but many other top-tier teams are in a similar condition due to low income. Paradoxically, NRT is one among the few top tier clubs with big assets and earns Rs 900,000 in monthly income from its house rent.
"Despite our commitment to continue playing football we were forced to take the decision. We had to deal with the serious question of whether we should just play football or save the institution and we chose the latter," said Pradhan, adding that the club was prepared for B division league next year.
The four-time league champion had borrowed Rs 14 million in loan from Himalayan Bank in 2064 BS to strengthen the team and also loans from its members. NRT had hired high-profile players with the highest paychecks then. But due to confrontation between clubs and football governing body ANFA, there were no football activities and league for three years. As per the ANFA regulation, NRT was forced to pay the salaries of nearly two dozen players for 18 months for nothing.
"We paid salary of Rs 6 million then but there was no league and football activity for two years. ANFA President Ganesh Thapa had then assured 18 months´ salary. But later Thapa refuted that he had made such a promise," Pradhan said.
"In the last season, we had to make investment of Rs 9.3 million despite maintaining austerity. The clubs are in a pathetic condition and cannot sustain on donations alone," said Pradhan who held ANFA responsible for the club´s condition. "There must be a person having vision at ANFA. Rather than increasing the cash prizes ANFA should focus on making clubs strong and sustainable."
The club established in 1991 BS, played football since the very beginning and it was also one of the first clubs to play top level football since the A division began in 2011 BS. It won the league titles in 2015 BS, 2017 BS, 2037 BS and 2052 BS. Besides football, the club was also involved in cricket and table tennis in the past.
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