What, why, who, how???

As many of you guys have requested, to highlight the issues that Indian Football faces, this post will mainly focus on the problems with an overview at the possible solutions. [I will call it an overview coz, if they really were the solutions to our problems, then I wouldn’t be writing this Post in the first place! ;-) ;-)]

It would be really unfair if I had to single out one particular reason for the sorry state of Indian Football – it is rather an amalgamation of them. To focus on the problems, I would highlight what it takes to play good football as a nation. To develop football, you need the following:-

1. Passion for the Game
2. Good Infrastructure
3. A Professional Club System
4. Support from the Government

In Indian Football, we will just find the 1^st Point above and none of the remaining.

As a nation, our love for Football can’t be discounted. We had a golden history once upon a time, but of course no point always resting on our past laurels. FIFA acknowledged our passion when we had the second highest viewership during the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany; and of course no wonder all the “Big Clubs of the World” are making a beeline to India coz they know very well how much we love the game.

Aaaaaaaaaaah – the same old topic of Infrastructure; Phew!!! Anyway, I have to talk about it. In one of the earlier posts I had mentioned about the types of Infrastructure we need dividing it into Masonic and Non Masonic. When it comes to Masonic, there is no doubt we are miles away from even calling it decent. We don’t have a single playing field that we can provide our National Team to play on, leave aside the question of a Stadium. The National Team has to travel to Dubai and Barcelona to prepare for the Nehru Cup. This is the sorry state of affairs when it comes to Masonic Infrastructure. Coming to Non – Masonic Infrastructure, we are fairly better off compared to many nations. We have some good coaches, who carry the AFC “C” license with them. And the AIFF conducts over 20 programs for coaches throughout the year in the "A", "B" and "C" AFC License categories. But yes, surely this is not enough and more needs to be done; we need “A” and “B” licensed coaches; we need proper support systems for them in terms of team officials and of course much better programs to groom referees.

The success of any National Team can be accounted by the Club System it has in place. A professional and responsible Club System can solve all the problems related to football in India but alas, it is our biggest bane. None of the I – league clubs could fulfil the criteria set out by the AFC to participate in the AFC Champions league this year!!! Most of the clubs don’t have Physiotherapists, Doctors, Trainers, Goal Keeping coaches, etc and to top it all, they don’t have a playing surface of their own!!!! Some of them go back to their 100 year old history and boast about being the oldest clubs in Asia or in the World and looking at their attitude, they would like to remain the same in terms of their Infrastructure. We have few promising clubs, but surely that is not enough. Buying foreign players and winning the League is of no use – it does more damage to the club more than Indian Football.

Support from the National Government – it’s like one of those pleasant dreams that you had and when you wake up the next morning you have a smirk across your face. The Government recently “promoted” the game of Football to a priority sport – can you imagine that?? What support can you expect from a Government which had to elevate the status of the sport only till recent times? What support can you expect when the Minister of Sports makes a comment that the Indian National Team can lose to any school team from Australia? Is that leadership? Is that a motivation for any of the players of the National Team? What kind of an example is that? And what you get in return is the cancellation of funds allotted for Football when anyone raises voice against that very statement? Anyway, moving forward, we in India have only the 2^nd and 3^rd point to work on and the 4^th one is as good as it being not there.

Summarizing the possible solutions (coz if I start writing about them – it will occupy 3 or 4 posts of mine to put the text down), India needs a professional Club System to solve all its problems. The FA in England doesn’t own a single stadium or a playing field or any academy – all the Stadiums that we see in the Premiership have been built by the Clubs or if you take the case of Wembley; it belongs to the government there. If our clubs get serious about their Football, then we can have 14 Stadiums or playing surfaces without a hitch; we will have better officials to support their managers and coaches. This will translate to an increase in the viewership of the game, better standard of Football and more corporate attraction thereby revolutionising the game in the country. We can in fact hold the FIFA World Cup, if each club has a stadium of its own!!!!

Guys, I will end it here as I can go on and on; but this was just a glance at the issues that we face with just a paragraph at the possible solution. I will come up with a detailed post on Club Football in India within a week’s time – till then “Love the Game”!! J J

10 Days at the Helm of Indian Football

“2009 is the year which will witness the worst Economic crisis; Job Cuts everywhere, Recession........” – These are the phrases and words that have marked the year till now. But 2009 is the year which apprises a new dawn for me. As my good friend Manjith terms it – it is the year when I started realizing my dream; A Dream to hear the Indian National Anthem being played at the Football World Cup and cry my heart out when a billion countrymen hum the same anthem in front of the whole world.

The biggest blunder – that is what everybody said when I took this defining step but I stand and say aloud that I have done something which very few dare to do. I am not among the people who sit back on a couch with a beer mug and say that Indian Football has no future – get onto the field and play the game my friend; the game to create a future for Indian Football.

It was in the month of March that I realized that the time was ripe to take the call and jump into the System with a golden opportunity knocking at my door. And yes, I grabbed it with both my hands. It has been 10 days at the Helm of Indian Football – The AIFF Football House.

You need to be passionate about a certain thing and if your job is what your passion is all about, mind it – nobody can stop you from achieving what you have set out to achieve. This is the motto which I have learnt from my Father. Indian Football can’t change and will never change if the Fans of the game don’t contribute towards developing the game.

10 Days – but it feels like months here. Websites, procedures, meetings with corporate houses – I have experienced them all in the last few days. And then I realise that it’s all there – everything is there for Indian Football to take off!!! I watch games at what we call the “Library” – which holds the FIFA, AFC journals, match videos, etc. It gives me goose bumps – sitting inside the federation house and taking decisions which will possibly realize the dream I have dreamt.

To tell you the fact, things are not as gloomy as projected by the media. Yes, there are a few hiccups, but let’s take it in a positive way – without them there wouldn’t have been any scope for improvement. On the hindsight, there are so many things which are there but alas not projected to the Fans of the game. A few important decisions have been taken in the last few days like the Team travelling to Dubai and FC Barcelona to train for the Nehru Cup, adopting the AFC 3+1 Foreigner rule, laying 8 artificial turfs across the country, etc. I would call this the trailer of a big movie and come August, we may see the start of a revolution in Indian Football.

I end it by quoting Mr. Colaco, “Indian Football not only needs infrastructure, money, corporate partnerships but it needs professional human resources. It needs a little bit of everything”; it would be the gr8est day in Indian Football when the Fans of the game rise up and do something for the same game they love the most in their own country.