India and the World Cup dream: What needs to be done

Indian captain Sunil Chetri during the Nehru Cup match in New Delhi in 2012. (Getty Images)

For India to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, what we need is a football youth development system which recognises talents from schools, colleges and gives them the opportunity to study and play the game.

There are a few factors which drive a sport in any country. I call them the 3 I’s:

Investment, Infrastructure and Interest

We have the investment, with our footballing market considered as a sleeping giant with a viewership of 155 million people. It is a huge target market and many investors are ready to invest but these investors need faith to put in their money and will want some sort of collateral. That is where the government comes in with their support and backing, along with a mega marketing plan to promote the event.

Government backing is a must with GDP at 5% and we having the economic stability that can invest in developing football from grassroots levels. Football is a sport which can be taken as a career like cricket. All the Government needs to do is show this to the parents of our country by developing football training schools where football is compulsory along with basic studies. And it’s not just that one has to be a professional player, he or she could be a manager, a journalist or a Physiotherapist even.

Infrastructure needs to be improved a lot; our national players still practice on muddy grounds. When they are taken to other Asian countries, where grounds are well maintained, we tend to lose by a narrow margin, as it takes time to adjust to such conditions. Indian players have never lacked in talent, there is lack of proper grounds, training infrastructure and coaching facilities. Salt Lake City, one of the world’s largest stadiums with a capacity of 1, 20,000 is the only stadium, along with Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, which can boast of these facilities. So for a country of 1.24 billion people, all we have are two stadiums with the basic amenities. We need at least 18 such stadiums and hundreds of academies

Interest can also be called passion, to drive an individual to the top. Football is played with great vigour in states like West Bengal, Manipur, Assam, Goa and the interest is massive. Euro 2012 got a viewership of 19.5 million, which is 10% more than the previous tournament. Students from colleges, school follow various European teams week in, week out and have their loyalties set.

It is often said that individuals are never bigger than the game. But apart from these three I’s, there is another ‘I’ is Individual. One individual can change the way football is perceived and can carry the burden of 1.24 billion people on to the football field.

What we need is that one individual to make us believe again. Like the great Dhyanchand brought about the change in field hockey, like Kapil Dev did by leading a the cricket team to World Cup glory in 1983, like Vishwanathan Anand bought about the change the way chess is perceived, like Gopichand to badminton and many other sporting heroes, football needs its own hero now.

Every sport has a golden period. We had our golden period from 1950 to 1960’s with the likes of Mohammed Salim, Sailendra Nath Manna, Neville D’souza, P K Banerjee, and Jarnail Singh amongst others. I.M. Vijayan and Baichung Bhutia, were individually great players.

Now what we need is a similar period, when a talented crop of youngsters come together, led by an individual who can carry the hopes of the people on his shoulders and bring India on the map of world football again.

“Reach high, for the stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal”.