Despite Baan's 'failure' tag, Chhetri remains a star

So, finally Mr Rob Baan has vented his frustration.

It wasn’t surprising to see him ridicule the Federation. It was supposed to happen at any moment. I can recall how often former India coach Bob Houghton used to lambast the Indian federation in front of international media after every defeat in the Asian Cup in Doha in 2011. The Englishman, who took up the Indian job in 2006, slowly realised that there was something wrong with the system. Later, the Englishman had to relinquish the post after a tiff with the Federation.

But Baan’s criticism convinced us that things haven’t changed after Houghton’s departure. There’s much which is terribly wrong with the AIFF. When Baan said there is no national team training centres and no budget, you have to believe the Dutchman. Because the veteran coach, who was introduced by AIFF two years back, was hailed as the next saviour after Houghton.

But he too has felt and realised that Indian football may not be moving in the right direction at all.

It takes a while before someone gets to know the weaknesses. In two years’ time, Baan has probably made the right comment about a system which is not going anywhere.

The hullabaloo of the visits of ‘FIFA delegates’ or ‘fitness trainers’ that are proudly highlighted, doesn’t mean that the game has been enriched in the country. The talk about being a ‘sleeping giant’ is an aberration.

We are still toddlers who need a clean environment to breathe. Only after then comes the question of learning. For that, we need a good school of thought and teachers who don’t cheat themselves just for the sake of making the grade.

Baan was apt when he mentioned about the age-fudging. But what surprised us was his ‘silence’ all these years. We all know how age-group competitions are manipulated from north to south and east to west. I myself have seen coaches ‘select’ over-aged players for their school teams. So, you can imagine the depth of corruption and cheating in Indian football.

Last year, during the AIFF U-14 Football Festival in Kalyani, the Delhi team had couple of good, young players who are well below U-13. When asked why he didn’t recommend at least one or two for the national camp, the spotter said there was ‘strict instruction to pick tall and tough’ boys.

Subroto Cup, though it’s not an AIFF-sponsored event, has always been hit hard with over-age issues for more than a decade now. Though the 69-year-old Baan is still hoping AIFF would adopt a zero-tolerance measure, he probably doesn’t know there is something called ‘vote-bank’ in Indian sports federations.

Now, let’s come to Baan’s scything remark on Sunil Chhetri. It’s too harsh a word for him to say that Chhetri is a big flop. He must know that Chhetri has come up all this way because of his parents.

Probably, Baan still isn’t aware that our champions are produced not by the federations but by our own families within their limited capacities. Chhetri’s rise to fame (whether he plays in second division or may not have played in England) is an inspiring story for million of Indian boys. Baan could have avoided calling Chhetri a ‘flop’.

The Dutchman, probably, doesn’t know the struggle behind his modest success. He may not know how many times he stayed in squalid rooms during the Santosh Trophy when he was a young player. Chhetri didn’t get the luxury of a European youngster. Neither he got special treatment from the Federation or state associations. Baan should know how often he was thrown into the unreserved compartments of a train with the Delhi team. Chhetri had absorbed all those initial pain just for the love of the game.

Today, he is a star and we’re proud of him. No matter how many times Baan calls him a ‘flop’ player, we know how much hard work his family has done to make him a footballer.

Mr Baan, please speak sense.