Visiting Kerala Before Football World Cup Finals

My visit to Kerala in the month of May 2010 was a family affair but I ended up experiencing the football fever in Kerala the most. It is a known fact that Kerala is one of the state in India which has great football followers. But the sad part is that cricket is slowly creeping into the psyche of the youngsters of Kerala like a slow poison. It was indeed disheartening to see the fields in Kerala being thronged by people playing cricket. There was a time when I could not see any single field with people playing cricket. Time has changed, the imperialism of cricket has reached Kerala too and it is very painstaking to say that there will be still more followers of cricket in the coming time with the advent of IPL Kochi. In spite of this, I was happy that even today the fields at many places in Kerala have the goal post made by supari trees, players donning their skills in the makeshift ground on the field and playgrounds still having the compulsory iron goal post at each end. During my stay in the three districts of Kerala namely Thrissur, Ernakulam and Malappuram, I could see this hoarding made by the community clubs of that village exhibiting their support to mostly either Brazil or Argentina.

Since I knew it happens in Kerala just before the start of the Football World Cup, I was eagerly observing all these hoardings. I never had the opportunity to be in Kerala during the World Cup month. I wonder what would be the football waves at that time in Kerala more particularly when teams like Brazil and Argentina scores a goal or win a match. If you have any input on it, I would be more than happy to know about it. I believe such would be the football fever in all the districts of Kerala. In my knowledge, I have not known any state in India where they put hoarding and stuff in praise for their supporting team. If it would be, then it would be in some villages but not throughout all the villages and community clubs like in Kerala. I wish that I stay back in Kerala till the Football World Cup but I have my priorities and responsibilities back in my Mumbai.

During my stay in Kerala for 12 days, I had the opportunity to coach boys who have enrolled for summer camp in one of the village of Irinjalakuda of Thrissur District. Imade the most of this occasion and tried in establishing the interest in football and informed them about the history of Indian football and what should be their focus as afootballer.

On a visit to the Thrissur District Football Stadium, I happened to meet Mr. Mohan,committee member of Thrissur District Football Association, Former National Referee(AIFF) and we discussed about the state of football in Kerala and the pros and cons of having the much talked about 7-a-side football tournaments of Kerala. According to Mr.Mohan, the sevens football tournament is actually diminishing the quality of football wherein the youngster for some meagre amount they risk injury as well as they degrade their development. There was also this under 19 state team selected 30 probables for under 19 nationals to be held in Kolkatta. He praised the state initiative in not sending any overage players and having very strict selection criteria with respect to age. This one thing I really lauded and wished that it is implemented at all levels and stages in IndianFootball.

It was so enthralling to look this Thrissur District Football Ground as in the one corner of the ground there was these lads of district summer football camp for under14 boys and girls, at one corner there was one division club of Thrissur conducting its selection trial and practice and in the center was the under 19 state selection going on.Mr. Mohan during the conversation also informed that on a yearly basis there are lotsof youngsters especially from Thrissur who get signed and plays for various clubs inMumbai and also Akbar Travel Football Club, elite division club of MDFA, conducts its selection camp in Thrissur only. In Mumbai, I feel there is quantity in terms of 300 plus clubs being enrolled with MDFAbut quality is not to be seen and also the following with respect to state like Kerala is diminutive.

BLACK DAY FOR MUMBAI FOOTBALL

The news of Mahindra United FC, the powerhouse of Mumbai football, disbanding the team got each of us by surprise on Saturday morning through the newspapers. The Mahindra United management took this decision on Thursday itself and disseminated the news to the media on Friday. As everyone would see Mahindra United going the way of Mumbai teams like Tata’s and Mafatlal’s who were once the giant club of Mumbai city during 60s, 70s and 80s, it is really shocking and very sad for mobilization of football in Mumbai. I was very proud that Mumbai has three clubs representing I-league and was foreseeing a shift of footballing waves from the East to the West. I never thought that Mahindra would close shop, as I believe that Mahindra United is the face of football in Mumbai and had a long way to go and take along Mumbai as a footballing city. The other two clubs of Mumbai, Air India and Mumbai FC, are like images on the sand which would be swept away by sea water. These clubs fate hang in the hands of the management of the respective clubs. As Yousuf Ansari, former Indian player and Manager of Air India, rightly pointed out that Mumbai is going Hyderabad and Bangalore way. Hyderabad and Bangalore were once a football player’s dream city in the 50s, 60s and 70s and gradually it had a slow end to the football aficionado.
I am happy that by disbanding the club the Mahindra management is not annihilating itself from football completely. Their social initiative for sports and especially for football in the way of supporting and nurturing young talents through school football is truly appreciable. Encouragement of football should begin at school level and school should make it a point to develop, nurture these homegrown talents by having full time coaching system, matches and tournaments. I hope the Mahindra United management acts on their words and take it to the desired destination.

I was thinking to myself what it would be that provoked the management to take such drastic decision. The management has come with great excuses or reasoning per se, but I think at the end of the day it comes down to money. In India, no football clubs earn from the clubs establishment and activities. It may be because of lack of corporate support, media attention, followers, advertisement and publicity etc. Here, I would like to mention that AIFF has a role to play. AIFF should come up with concepts, ideas, laws, rules were each club earn as well as get better media attention and publicity and traditional clubs like Mahindra just don’t shut the shop at once. It is really painful to know that India being one of the upcoming economies, none of our football club have met the eligibility criteria laid down by AFC and now AFC has to pull up the socks of these clubs and support them financially too for this endeavour. Having said that my suggestion to the management of Mahindra United is to have an auction of the club and give it a better publicity. I believe they would be financially benefitted and the legacy lives on.

The next question that comes to mind is “do Mumbai deserves such disinclination?” I would say yes. I won’t like to blame anyone, but yes as a footballer and a follower, we people rarely visits our so called shambled Cooperage football stadium to watch an I-league match. It is really disheartening that people from cities like Pune and Shillong have proved their liking and following of football by averaging an audience of 5000 to 8000 per match and cheering for their respective teams far better than people from Mumbai. These cities are the new entrants in the Indian football scene and Mumbai has a great past as far as Indian football is concerned. Just imagine these scene where there is an I-league match being scheduled in Coooperage and a large scale publicity of this match by way of hoardings, newspapers, magazines, FM stations, internet, merchandising, celebrity messages, dissemination of tickets by way of gifts and prizes through contests had been done and on the given day the stadium is packed to the brink. In such situations, do you think any club would disband the team, the corporate would not like to be part of this celebration, the players won’t perform to their best and prove their melee, there won’t be growth and development of football. Now who is to blame for not having such scenario? Yes, of course AIFF and WIFA for not publicizing the event, the club themselves for not mobilising people to come to the event, and last but not the least we footballers and followers for giving a cold shoulder to this event. We can go on and on talking about European football and World football but there is no much we have to say about our domestic circuit. There would be obvious good reasons of ourselves for not doing so but at the end of the day what we would see is that leaders like Mahindra United disbanding the team and we get such shocking news and we grief about it.

I would like to know your views on it.

INDIA WON THE FOOTBALL WORLD CUP

You might be shocked, surprised, dismayed, pinching yourself after hearing this news that India won the Football World Championship. Let me wake you up from your flight of fancy and tell you "this is indeed the truth." Believe it or not, India had won the inaugural Deloitte Street Child World Championship 2010 in Durban, South Africa by beating Tanzania 1-0 in the final on March 23rd 2010. I know it would be a great utopia when India would at least qualify for the finals of FIFA World Cup.

The Deloitte Street Child World Cup is a global partnership led by Amos Trust. The Consortium for Street Children, Street Action, Momentum Arts, Global Goals, and Child Rights Information Network are providing key expertise and support. The event was hosted in Durban by Umthombo Street Children and the Durban University of Technology. Many famous personalities endorsed this initiative such as Sir Alex Ferguson, David Beckham, Theo Walcott, Andriy Shevchenko, etc.

There were total of eight participating nations in this first edition. The teams were Action for Brazil’s Children; Casa Alianza, Nicaragua; De Paul International, Ukraine; A network of partners, Philippines; Khalsa Football Academy and their Punjab based partners, India; Koto, Vietnam (catering); and Caretakers of the Environment (Tanzania). The main aim was to launch a new call for street children’s basic rights to be respected.

The team India was represented by YFC Rurka Kalan and the Khalsa Football Academy. The tournament rules stated that a girl representative should be included in all the teams. Because YFC Rurka Kalan do not at present provide soccer initiatives and development work for girls, in order to stay in the sprit of the game The KFA’s Global network partnered up with New West secondary school who provided three Indian girls with no experience in football to make up the team.

The first game for India was against the host, South Africa, whom they beat 4-0. The second game India lost to Nicaragua by 0-1. The third game India beat Ukraine by a thumping goal margin of 8-0. In the Semi-Final, India played against England which India won by 3-1. In the finals, India met Tanzanaia whom the beat 1-0 by a goal from Manpreet Singh via penalty kick.

THE SQUAD
Team Management
Bal Singh, Rupinder Bahel, Gurmangal

Indian Coach
Kulwant Singh

Players
Jagjit Singh, Pankaj Kalia, Gaurav Kumar, Narinderjit Singh, Amritpal Singh, Kulvir Singh, Jatinder Singh, Ramandip Kumar, Manpreet Kumar, Alareece Gisele Gaffoor, Leah Naidoo, Shrimal Umichand.

Team India and the squad made history by lifting the trophy of Deloitte Street Child Football World Cup. Now this World Cup will be a usual event in the FIFA Football Calendar to be played before any FIFA World Cup and to be hosted by the same FIFA World Cup host nation. We in India including the football fraternity did not have an inkling of such event being played as there was no much media attention. But Deloitte along with Amos Trust did try to spread this awareness in India by rallying on a rickshaw and disseminating the message throughout India.
The Indian Consulate General in South Africa, Mr. Anil Sharan met the Indian team at The Moses Mabhida Stadium where Potugual will play Brazil in the FIFA World Cup. The venue was used to provide a platform for youngsters to voice there concerns. Anil was so impressed with Team Indias victory he invited the team to the Indian General HeadQuarters and presented the team with gifts and dinner.

Even after winning the Street Child Football World Championship by India, there was no much hullabaloo by any section of the media. Such big achievement met with an almost inanimate publicity. Neither the Government nor the NGO applauded this victory in any form, whereas, in Philippines the team was given a VIP reception. India albeit winning the trophy has to experience a subdued welcome. I believe if this Team India would have been endorsed by some famous personalities then this achievement would have been known by most of us who as of now get this news as a shock of their life.

Sir Alex’s letter to Deloitte Street Child World Champions
Football is a sport like no other. Throw down a football on a dusty roadside in Brazil or a parched pitch in Africa and see what happens. At once, players are united in the magic of the game no matter what their colour, creed or class.
Of course at the top level of the game, there are great rewards and great trophies to be won. But we should never ever forget the grassroots of the game, nor overlook the ability of football to help deliver social change and progress. It is not just about the superstars and the teams and players known the world over. It is about what sport can do to raise people’s hopes and expectations.
All eyes will be on the World Cup in South Africa. But I am delighted the country has already staged another World Cup – the inaugural Street Child World Cup. I was pleased to be able to support the project when it was first launched, and I am thrilled that it has gone so well. My heartfelt congratulations to India for winning.
But I believe everyone who has been in Durban will have learned something about themselves, about the world, and about the role of football as a force for good.
Best wishes,
Alex Ferguson

APPEAL

I request the Indian Government, NGOs, State Governments to at least recognize this achievement of these brave warriors who from nowhere has waived the victorious Indian flag on the foreign soil and made all our Indians proud. By this victory, our footballers also announced to the world that we Indians are not just sleeping giants but a great force knocking on World Football.

I wish these youngsters a great future and also wish them to be the ambassadors for the upliftment of the street children’s of India.

The Highest Paid Footballer In India Today

At the recently concluded match between Air India and Churchill Brothers, Odafe Onyeka Okalie justified why he is the highest paid footballer in india at the moment. Even though the man of the match was awarded to his fellow partner Ogba Kalu Nnanna, Odafe was the target marker for Air India. His game was different from his counterparts from both the teams where they were indulging in arial passes, about more than 60%, he believed in controlling the game and making and creating opportunities. He was lethal in the forwardline as during one of the occasion when Air India was awarded corner, he was marshalled by 2 stoppers and one half line of Air India at the center line. This was the consternation he had clouded in the minds of the rival team.

In the whole game, he was tightly marked. His footballing wisdom has to be complimented coz he accepted his markings and started creating opportunities for his team mates. One such clinical pass was made in to goal by Kolu Nnanna in the first half. In the 90+ minutes of the game, he had 116 touches to the ball, 75% accurate passes, 5 attempts at the goal, 5 assists, 2 corners earned, and the winning goal through header in the second half. This statistics justifies his pay packet. If our Indian Clubs only recruit foriegners of his calibre that will do a great good for Indian Football. As most of the present foriegners playing in the I-League does not match the quality for what they have been called for.

Hoping our youngsters from mumbai come to Coooperage and learn from his playing prowess.

INDIAN FOOTBALL – A BURGEONING FORCE

We can get back our past football glory and we are inching towards it day by day. With a better economic growth and the potential and the resources from FIFA, we have only one way to go and that is vertical growth. The market has already started talking about the emerging future of Indian Football, as they share the same understanding.

With the recent event unfolded in amelioration, it shows the right sign for growth of Indian Football. The recent successful tour of Indian U-16 team in US and Europe and the qualification for the finals of AFC Championship, India Sr. teams qualification in the Asia Cup after 24 years of hiatus and Dempo Sports Club’s advancing to the Semi-Final of the AFC Cup are all reason to cheer for Indian Football.

We are also heading towards the right direction with the support of AFC and are more than likely to have our club in the AFC Champions League. Our I-League is also getting better year after year.

We do have lots of space for improvement and slowly and wisely we are going to fill the void.

GROWING VISUAL DELICACY OF FOOTBALL

Football in India is only growing manifold. The one instance I would like to emphasize here is the increasing shows of live football matches in various TV channels. Some years ago, we were only glued to international club matches featuring Premiership, La Liga, and Champions League being aired by ESPN/Star and Ten Sports respectively. Although we were aware of the other European countries respective leagues, we were not a party to that extravaganza visually. The growing viewership and followers of these leagues have enlightened the media watchers to add more to the itinerary. This gainful thinking in the right direction has treated us with more choice and more football actions. With each passing year, there is adding up of one more new league.

As of now, the leagues featuring are English Premiership, Spanish La Liga, AFC Cup matches in ESPN/Star Sports; Bundesliga and some Italian Serie A matches in Neo Sports; UEFA Cup Italain Serie A, French Ligue, bit of Spanish La Liga, Champions League, and our I-League in Zee Sports; UEFA Cup Champions League, French Ligue, the newest introduction Dutch and Scottish Leaque in Ten Sports. Besides this, we also have DD Sports airing domestic football matches. Oomph, that is too much of it, doesn’t it? But, I am sure you would like to have more.

The spurt of this entertainment can be attributed to the spurt of various sports channels. I think in the future, we will definitely get a 24-hour dedicated football channel. Apart from this visual representation of football matches, World Space Satellite Radio has also delivered first ever all-sports satellite sports channel in India known as ‘Play.’ This also features football news, updates, and commentaries.

Hoping to have more of these.

BEAUTY OF FOOTBALL

A thought flowed as to why the enthusiasm for cricket was diminished during the just concluded one-day international world cup, as it is a fact that there was no much presence of this World Cup mania. I know even a primary school going kid can say that the reason for this being India’s early exit from the World Cup. Astonishingly, what I see is that people in India is not generally mad about cricket, the so called religion in India, they are actually in Love with the Indian team playing cricket. They will only stake their time and energy in watching India play cricket and not just cricket as a game played by any other nation, an inquiry you can dwell into.

This thought then digress me into another inquiry that “can Cricket as a game stand on its own with perpetuated somber execution from Indian team and abated reporting from the media?” I know now you are thinking as to what point am I making here - Just hold on, before I disclose about it. Let me cruise you in to the opulent history of football in India.

As you all know, both cricket and football are games we inculcated from British and both these games have some history to depict from the 19^th century.

Let us begin with Cricket. The first Indian to play Cricket in India at a high level was the Parsi community in Bombay, now Mumbai. In 1892, an annual match was played between the Parsis and the Europeans. In 1907, this became a triangular tournament with the Hindu community fielding a team, and in 1912 the tournament went on to be known as the “Bombay Quadrangular” with the Muslim community enrolling their team. It is sad but true that Cricket has to bear the stick of communalism at the very beginning, but nevertheless, it has also assisted to keep our country and our citizens united down the line. The rest of the history most of us are aware of.

Speaking about football, you all know it is a poor man’s game. All you need is a football or any cluster of soft-rounded stuff to start with and it was played in some or the other form from ages. Indian football has a glorious past to depict. Football was introduced to India during the 1880s, with the advent of British rule. The concomitant history of football spans well before 1880s. It all began in 1863 in England and was named “The Football Association in England.”

The Durand Cup started in India in 1888 and is the oldest Soccer Tournament in the world after the English FA Cup. It is now played in Delhi and is in the annual fixture of All India Football Federation. Mohun Bagan, the football club from Kolkata, formed in 1889, is the oldest football club in Asia. India participated for the first time in 1948 at the London Olympics. The game was played barefooted by our players, but they dazzled the world with their remarkable skills.

Again in 1952 Helsinki Olympics, they played barefooted. With snow all around and with the chills, they had to exit early from the tournament. In the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, India became the first Asian nation to reach the semifinals of an Olympic football game. In this quarterfinal game, the Indian centre forward, Neville D’souza, scored the hat-trick to defeat Australia by four goals to two. He was also the joint top scorer in that Olympic. He is the only Asian till now to achieve this feat in Olympics. In the 1960 Rome Olympics, India held France 1-1 in one of the league games. India was invited by FIFA and Brazilian Football Federation to take part in the IV World Cup, but could not take part because in those days Indian footballers were used to play barefoot and from the 1950 World Cup, FIFA had made it mandatory for all the players to play with shoes. India is the founder member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which is established in 1954. India was the Asian Champions for two times and won the Asian Games Gold in 1951 and 1962. In 1936, Mohammed Salim was the first Indian to represent a club in Europe. He was selected for Celtic FC, Scotland and played his first match against Hamilton FC. He was exceptional in that game and Celtic won the match 5-1 and in the second game they routed Galston FC by 7-1 with his new style of juggling. He was the first barefooted Indian player who played in England and his performance was praised by Queen Elizabeth.

Very few people will know that Mahatma Gandhiji was also fond of football and was the head of football clubs in Durban and Johannesburg in South Africa almost a hundred years ago. He knew that it is the game of masses and it is very natural for human being to play this game. He headed this club to bring together people of all caste, creed, and color in South Africa which he was successful in doing so.

Well, the point I am putting forward is that football being a common man’s game is followed by almost everyone in this world with less or more zeal. You cannot find a single nation in the world who does not have a national football team and not a single community who does not follow it. There are about 207 nations affiliated to FIFA, and there are still many countries, which have no affiliation with FIFA but do have their national team. India ranks 151^st in the FIFA rankings and 26^th in Asia after just concluded 13^th ONGC Nehru Cup. Make no mistake about it, the ranking is not due to India’s dismal performance, but it is largely because India does not play much International matches.

It is my observation that in India during the finals of Football World Cup, there were pubs and sports bar, which were booked well in advance and was houseful to the brim to watch the matches starting from quarterfinals. The people following it throughout India were also much more than expected. This would have been the same scenario in almost all the football playing nations in the world. Even a person who does not know about soccer is glued to the Idiot Box to experience the vibrant nature of the game. This vivacity is just not limited to the Football World Cup but such enthusiasm can also be experienced during European Cup and Champions League.

Such gargantuan attendance and liveliness was not felt in India during the just concluded Cricket World Cup. You know by now that this shriveling enthusiasm in India during Cricket World Cup was due to India’s early exit from the tournament and not because the World Cup failed to produce much entertainment.

In India, the number of people who follow and plays football is also gaining momentum. This can be substantiated by the fact that for the season 2007-2008 of the Mumbai Football League organised by Mumbai District Football Association there are more than 45 new teams who have affiliated with the association that sums up to more than 800 new players and for the year 2008-2009 there were 50 new teams that would count for 1100 new players being introduced into amateur footballing. Corporates and advertising companies are you taking a note of this?

That is the Beauty of Football and its Excellence where nations like India who does not have their representation in the finals are still much more captivated to the magic and harmony of the game. It would not be inapt if I call it the World Game or Peoples Game.

The FIFA president, Mr. Blatter, on his recent visit to India quoted "Kicking is the most instinctive game of the human being. An unborn baby, in mother's belly, does not say 'I want to be a boxer', instead, kicks to say 'I want to be a footballer.”

Our country with a rich football history has no choice but to be one of the superpowers of football in Asia as well as of the world. The Vision 2020 is what my dream is and by which time my nation would qualify and dazzle the world with scintillating performances.

Even our President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam suggested to the FIFA President that FIFA could organise and get three or four world-class footballers to tour India to inspire youngsters to take up the sport which FIFA has planned some programs to get these footballers to India.

Thank you for your time.