The pain of an Indian football fan

Indian football has not progressed much for a long time

We are a country of 1.5 billion people and have a superb economy. The most startling fact ever is that we have not been able to replicate success in football as we have done in other ball games. There is a lot to ponder and it is indeed a shame. With the kind of economy our country has, this is something which is very tough to take in our stride. The government or the authorities have literally killed this major sport which is played all over the globe.

The grounds, infrastructure, facilities can all be resurrected. But this hasn’t been done over the decades. The only moments of success that we have had so far, is way back in 1950’s, when India qualified for the World Cup but could not make it, thanks to the lack of funds. Then we did finish fourth in the 1956 Olympics. But what after that? This is so horrific and disgusting.

Lack of money in the game, poor marketing strategies or to be more precise zero marketing strategies have left this sport lying like an orphan. Even the Indian media is not at all interested. We do play it, yes do not think that we don’t. If you want to see the craze, go to West Bengal or the north east or the Southern states of Kerala and Goa. Of course cricket has overshadowed it, but why?

There is a lot of money in cricket which we don’t have in football. In India the corporate world runs after cricket.They are mad about it. And they should be because they know that Cricket is a money spinner.

Talk to the generation of people who were born in the 90’s and the only names which come to our mind are Baichung Bhutia or Sunil Chetri. We remain contented with the fact that these players have played for foreign leagues in division three or below. Isn’t this so embarrassing? Every world cup we drape in the jerseys of our favourite teams and go gaga watching the champion’s league or the English Premier league. This is same as a student giving a proxy in college.

Does anybody even know how the Indian football team’s jersey looks like? No even I don’t know and this is a shame. Our world ranking in football is almost the same as the number of test matches Sourav Ganguly has played for India. Poor countries that do not stand anywhere close to our country rank higher and even qualify for the World Cup.

Can football ever get revived in our country? Yes we can do it, with a sense of professionalism. Media has to play a major role. The corporate think tanks have to step forward and trust it. Yes trust is the biggest key because things will not change in a fortnight. It would take time and that demands patience. We need to raise the bar, if we continue to treat it as a simple game with a ball and four rocks used as make shift goal posts then we cannot move ahead ever.

Football needs big help from the BCCI, the Indian cricketers, the bollywood celebs, the Indian media because they have huge influence on the commoners of our country. The influence is such that even if they speak shit people will listen and nod.

The I league has had some impact in reviving Indian football and getting it noticed on a bigger scale. It is due to this league that some of the Indian players are getting to play in the foreign leagues. It is the I-league where each Mohun Bagan versus East Bengal match gets cheered by thousands of people. The teams have been able to sign some international stars like Carlos Hernandez who has represented Costa Rica in 2006 FIFA World Cup. These achievements may sound petty but they do give us hope about the golden days for Indian football.

We need to create a separate window for this game, even if the time stamp is short it should not matter. And in this small time stamp every body’s focus should be football and nothing else. Just imagine Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings match overlapping with a local IPL style football fixture. Where will we as viewers surge?

This sport should be nurtured right from the grassroot level. It would help picking out talent right from the school level. Then opening up of academies in every state would help this sport to a greater extent. Even football coach training centres need to be established where in the domestic coaches get trained by their foreign counterparts. The government would have to announce a separate package for football. Major football clubs like Bayern Munich have their own set of football development proposals. These have not been implemented, thanks to the poor response from the government. These have to be given importance maybe we should start all over again.

The biggest thing is that football needs a icon whom others could idloize. To be more pecise football needs to be marketed well as a product. Sponsors, proper media coverage and the glam/enteratinment factor would step up the fan base of Indian football.

All this does sound tough but it is not impossible. It would definitely take time but one day we would surely be able to see the Indian football become a major force in the world.