Indian Football: Short-term gains and long-term pains

Are these players getting the facilities they deserve?

What is the future of Indian football? Well, let’s ask Mr. Robb Bann, the Technical Director. Oops, he has no answer! He is disappointed and in no mood to cover that. ‘Mission 2020’, the much coveted plan prepared by him for the progress of Indian football, is yet to see the light of the day as there are no funds! Mr. Bann, please understand that we do not believe in future and don’t have the time for that! We are too busy organizing tournaments that nobody watches; too busy in winning a few ‘selected’ matches against rivals; too busy in managing internal politics of our associations or clubs. We don’t have the time to waste for improving the quality of football or making it commercially viable. This write-up will give you an understanding of what we prefer to do and what we do not prefer.

The most important task for us is to make our fans happy. Please do not assume that all of us have fans; some of us do and most of us don’t. Fan Developmental Initiatives, you say? What is the need for that? Rather, we can invest that money in recruiting players who can win a few tournaments at the national or state levels or at least win a few matches; the able-bodied foreign players from Africa are always a safe bet. They will play in the positions of striker and the stopper and will cause injury to many of the opponent’s players. These foreigners are the key to success for us. Given a chance, we shall recruit eleven foreign players for our team. What will happen to the national team? Let these foreigners play for the national side. If needed, make an amendment in the Constitution of India and allow dual or even multiple citizenships. Otherwise, there is no hope for Indian football. Our own players are short and weak. There is no way they can compete against foreigners. That is why we do not believe in grass-root developmental initiatives. What’s the point? Can we produce able-bodied Indian players? With the present infrastructure, surely not! We prefer to use this money to recruit foreign players instead. We can produce good quality Indian players with a long term plan, you say? What’s the point of thinking so far ahead? We need success within the next few years; only then can we satisfy our ‘fans and members’ and thereby can secure our positions. Who will remember us if we introduce a long term plan which will give us results after our deaths? Nobody! So, no need for long-term plans, only short-term solutions. Short and sweet!

Sometimes, we discuss developing the infrastructure of Indian football. How? By placing a bench in the lawn of our offices or by changing the colour of the tent! Building stadiums or setting up a proper academies? These need a huge investment. How can we arrange these funds? Through a professional approach? By appointing professional managers? Oh, we do not consider them as an investment, they are just an extra cost for us! And we do not want to incur additional cost; our only investment is on the players and that too on able- bodied foreign players. We only believe in short term gains, that’s all!

Our other responsibility is to make the government and the corporate sector aware of their responsibilities. They have the great responsibility of uplifting Indian football by giving money. Don’t think about returns! Only think of your responsibilities.

Dear readers, at the end of this write-up, I would like to make a confession – I am a passionate follower of Indian football and feel extremely sad when see that no improvement has been made in the sport for a long time. Is it a rocket science? Certainly not! We only need to change our mindsets. I hope that the stakeholders of Indian football will take this write- up positively and will surely make a positive change in football by making strategic plans and implementing them successfully.