The Curious case of Indian Football

Another edition of the world’s most popular game ends (I’m talking about Football, just in case....), and as usual, India a country of 1.2 billion people hardly makes it presence felt. As a kid, ever since I started playing and watching football, I wondered when, like cricket, India and Indians would actually take to football. Back in the 90’s, cricket was booming and the BCCI had just begin to build its muscles. Football was on no one’s priority list except when there was an East Bengal-Mohan Bagan derby.

I myself was never interested in Indian football till about a few years back. Heck I wasn’t even interested in club and European football till about the early 2000’s. International football and world cup was good enough for me. But though the European format of the game caught my imagination (and of a lot others among my generation), the Indian football game never took off.

Why is it that if we as a country have adopted the game of cricket with much flair and class, we’ve crash and burned in football?

It’s not like we Indians don’t like football. I’ve seen enough Super Sundays where people are just going bonkers on whether Arsenal were good enough or Chelsea were boring to watch or whether Liverpool are a spent force. The world cup just showed me people thronging cafes and pubs in hundreds to cheer their favourite teams while wearing national team jerseys of countries they’ve never been to and making merry. And the internet is abuzz with young people discussing the game and cheering a sole Indian Sunil Chettri in the Major Soccer League.

Well over the years I’ve read and heard a lot of arguments about the same. The most common factor heard is that the game is not yet developed at the grass root level. That at the most basic stage quality coaches aren’t there to train a young boy who kicks a ball 20 yards out into the goal with the wrong technique. That the equipment provided is sub standard and the diet and fitness of a young lad starting out is messed up by stuffed aaloo ka parathas.

However, my take is that the quality of football might just improve at the grass root level if the existing team provided enough entertainment and class to hook the Indian people onto them. What was cricket before the World Cup victory in 1983? It definitely wasn’t a national obsession like it is now.

Indian football fans have nothing to look forward to except the occasional world cup qualifying match or the Asian Cup qualifiers. For the past two years the Nehru Cup has been re-started on the insistence of the national coach bob Houghton, but victories in the Nehru cup are nothing more that injections for self-confidence. They don’t provide a genuine challenge to the team.

But that’s the national level. What about the game at the domestic level? Ask any Indian vaguely informed about Indian clubs and pat comes the reply, “Mohan Bagan & East Bengal”. And that’s just because they might have “heard” of them. Domestic football in India has largely remained boring, un-inspiring, with a view of empty stands and crumbling stadiums.

Recently the top dog of the I-League, Mahindra United (fancifully modelled on the gigantically popular Manchester United) got disbanded and declared they would no longer be part of domestic competitions. The team which was sponsored by Mahindra & Mahindra could no longer cope with the unrealistic losses being churned out in the Indian circuit. Nobody blames them though. Empty stands, zero-viewership and zero fan following made their losses sky rocket like the Burj Khalifa and Mahindra decided to concentrate on Basketball! Sheesh!

The need of the hour for domestic football in India is fan based clubs like Shillong Lajong and Pune FC. Shillong Lajong has recorded average attendances of 30,000 in most of their games after being promoted to the first division. There is genuine fan following among the crowds donning the team jerseys and waving the club flag.

Pune FC is owned by a combination of corporate hunks but named and modelled after a city. It’s a brilliant idea because it brings in the loyalty, sense of belonging and fan following of the local Pune folks. When the fans of Shillong and Pune see that a team playing for them is slogging it out in the field, they come out and support their boys. And we definitely need more of that spirit. Corporate sponsorship is important but the owners don’t necessarily have to stick in their own names into the teams.

However that doesn’t guarantee team success on the pitch. Although Pune FC did finish a brilliant 3^rd, Lajong were relegated to the 2^nd division. So great quality of play is a must.

I’ve tried to watch I-League matches on television. Honestly I’ve been bored to death watching them. The AIFF have tied up with Zee Sports out of all the channels to broadcast all I-league matches. Problem is me and half of India has adopted TATA Sky as a member of our family which does not relay Zee Sports.

Then the matches I do manage to see courtesy of Ten Sports are honestly quite disappointing. Apart from not being quality football, the cameras are placed strangely on a sideline view making it weird to watch. The stands are empty, primarily because matches are played on weekdays during daytime when people are either at work or studying. The commentators range from being dead to in a coma.

Seriously, we need quality televised coverage. One of the most important factors in watching a football match on television is the atmosphere. The noise of the crowd, the excited voice of the commentator, the flood lights.....ah! Alas it is not to be! The I-League officials seriously have to consider scheduling matches on weekends and during the evenings. Then they have to hire competent broadcasters like ESPNSTAR or somebody who can actually hire decent commentators and Tele-view camera positions.

The worrying part is India have qualified (through some self rewarding mumbo jumbo challenge cup) to the 2011 AFC Asia Cup. I’m just concerned that the Indian National Football team might end up making a mockery of themselves in Doha. Right now, the national players have been barred from playing in the I-League so that they can be forged into a potent national side. Hope Bob Houghton knows what he’s doing. Till that time, fingers crossed and GO INDIA!!!!!

Time to convert it into a biggie!!!