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.