Indian football: Lying in shambles

Benjamin Franklin had once said, ”If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” They say it’s the fervor which shapes an individual’s desire to rise like a phoenix and makes everyone look at him in honour. A four goal drubbing, a forgettable five goal humiliation or a seven goal fun for the opposition doesn’t quite reflect the passion though. Atleast statistically. A country where sports is synonymous with cricket and the IPL is on everyone’s mind, Football is the last thing you want to hear in a friendly conversation. Where every kid on the streets dreams to be the next Sachin Tendulkar or the future Virender Sehwag, only a handful would realize who Bhaichung Bhutia even is.

From the pinnacles of a fourth place finish in the 1956 Olympics to being ranked at an all time low as 169th in FIFA’s list, this downslide is nothing short of all the imaginable wrongs that could have happened to the state of the most beautiful game in our country. Our country’s destiny has perhaps already been written, done and dusted. Such is the irony of the shambles of captivity that Indian football is in that no one would ever imagine that it’s our very country which has over 20 million Manchester United fans. More than 250 million viewers alone from India witnessed Manchester United’s Champions League glory over Chelsea in the summer of 2008.

Diego Maradona had pumped his chest here and his sheer presence at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata had drawn thousands and even left the eternally biased fan in a frenzy. A packed crowd and passionate fans had even left Lionel Messi short of words as he graced this very same venue by his solemn presence on the pitch in an International friendly against Venezuela. It had been a testament for sheer passion and the love of the beautiful game on that eventful night in Kolkata. What has followed since has been an absolute disaster.

Log into Facebook or any social networking site for that matter and you see numerous updates from fans of EPL clubs from all over the length and breadth of our vast and diverse country. The reason? Passion, more than anything else. In a country which boasts of perhaps the most populated country in the world, a rising economy and a lucrative market for investors, it’s a shame to say a World Cup qualification could quench the thirst of shedding the potential “minnows” tags all over the Football Fraternity.

The AIFF recently ‘celebrated’ 75 years of Indian Football but questions brew under the surface whose answers would shatter the very base of its foundation. Thousands queue up on a Sunday afternoon with both sets of fans voicing their support for perennial rivals, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, but come the live telecasted match of the national team’s dismal and yet another abysmal performance in the Asian Games, fans would say,”Oh! Forgot to watch it, was it on schedule? By how many goals did we lose?“

The absence of proper marketing, absolute lack of infrastructure, inclement weather conditions and a nowhere to be seen desire are the mass problems which need to be rectified. Ask any fan and they would say that they don’t know how the country’s elite club competition the I-League is being run. With clubs spending crores on endorsement deals and signing players, they don’t even have a say in the running of the I-League. As a result, the AIFF has to take all the decisions and henceforth the problems remain as they were, not monitored and and left unattended.

Head into AIFF’s headquarters and you would be amazed to find people who haven’t yet kicked a ball in their entire life taking key decisions. This is exactly the opposite in the case of European Football where former footballers and coaches have a major say on how a league should be run, or a roadmap guiding the country’s football objectives in the coming three or five years. Usually the revenue earned and amassed from sponsorship and broadcasting rights is down to a club’s popularity on the map, hence the clubs must have a say on how tournaments or competitions are run, yet clubs in our country have absolutely no say.

Marketing and infrastructure are a barometer for gauging any sport’s popularity, be it any country in the world. The investment of a whopping 700 crores by Reliance IMG to revamp the football infrastructure has also gone to waste. The PLS, which was seen as an immaculate decision to promote franchise football based in West Bengal, has also withered away into oblivion. A highly potential market attractive to investors could have been the right path for Indian Football to move ahead, but the sorry state of AIFF’s advertising blocked the way.

FIFA President Mr Sepp Blatter branded India “a sleeping giant” in the summer of 2006. The Giant however seems to have grown larger in size and yet its feet are as small as a chicken, as a result its inability to rise. There is no stadium which could boast of hosting a Liverpool vs Barcelona match at a two months prior notice. The astro turf at Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata is a player’s nightmare with a serious injury waiting to happen. The Ambedkar Stadium at Delhi which oversaw India’s two Nehru Cup wins under Bob Houghton is equally shoddy with no drainage system. The Pune-Balewadi Complex ground looks like a water polo pitch come the monsoon. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, built during the Delhi Commonwealth Games, also doesn’t have anything glittering to offer. Foreign coaches also have tried out but to no avail. Earlier, the Nehru Cup boasted of heavyweight teams like Argentina and Uruguay eagerly participating in the event, but it’s the very same competition now in which even Cameroon or Zambia are reluctant to send their first team.

Some years ago, South Korea was like a little infant in the Football fraternity. However, with the arrival of a certain mastermind, Guus Hiddink, things changed at an exponentially high rate. With new facilities for training, regular feedback from local coaches to spot un-nurtured talents and working on the psychological aspects of young and skilful but directionless individuals, it has worked wonders for the country’s football growth. From breaking language barriers to instilling a fighting approach along with a much talked about hierarchical system, Hiddink has rightly put South Korea on the world football map. For India though, players would say inclemental weather has always worked against them. A question which time is yet to answer. A 110 crore populated country, yet there is no starting 11 which could challenge the best of teams. A ratio for which calculators would be required if you forget the number of zeroes in the denominator. Is there any future for Indian Football, which once boasted the likes of Ghosto Pal, P.K. Banerjee, Sailen Manna or Chuni Goswami who had always let their fee do the talking?