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:-
- Passion for the Game
- Good Infrastructure
- A Professional Club System
- Support from the Government
In Indian Football, we will just find the 1st 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 2nd and 3rd point to work on and the 4th 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