Another Year, Another Season, Where are we...?
-by gasper crasto
Watching India beat Kuwait convincingly in straight sets at the last Asian Games Volleyball games and see the well-built Arabs look like school kids in front of our Indians began to resurge my thoughts again and with assertion – India can do this in football too. But why can’t the football administrators think like me...!
In recent years, we have all seen Indian football struggling to refurbish a team that can beat Japan, Iran, Saudi, China and Korea, or face any Asian team with confidence. Yet nothing has really worked out. Administrators come and go; they make newspaper headlines and have a good time. But, none has really succeeded in revamping the sullying rating of team India in football. The demand for the game too seems to be fading after every season.
Efforts to improve practice grounds, stadiums, live telecast and commentary by professional commentators, etc, has not really captivated interest of spectators at the stadiums. Only the semi-final and final encounters may draw standby crowds. Moreover, the whole system seems to be slowly crashing – top teams (Mahindra) have no home crowd; home crowd has no teams (Kerala); and top footballing states have no strong clubs (Manipur).
Much hope was pinned on the National Football League (NFL) teams to boost the game. But half the NFL teams seem to be playing just to exist in the League. Many of them bring ‘foreign’ players only for NFL – either to help get results or defend from being relegated. But then, foreign recruits, although playing attractive and pleasing football, turn out to be dreadfully expensive – an added burden on clubs who try to minimize costs and even think of closing down clubs.
Compared to foreign recruits, our National ‘hopes’ of a World Cup are paid peanuts. And whenever some clubs want to pay a handsome amount, others get jealous, or fellow players feel cheated. Inadvertently, it has all affected the game and ultimately our Indian football.
Players too have become shrewd nowadays, perhaps due to continued insecurity as they grow older by another season. What will I do if the club sacks me? Would I be able to get a similar package in another club? Would I be able to prove myself in a lower club? Would I be able to live up to my ‘living’ standards earning a paltry sum with another (poor) club? Wouldn’t it be a shame to play in lower divisions? Questions such as these continuously haunt established players.
In recent years, we have all seen Indian football struggling to refurbish a team that can beat Japan, Iran, Saudi, China and Korea, or face any Asian team with confidence. Yet nothing has really worked out. Administrators come and go; they make newspaper headlines and have a good time. But, none has really succeeded in revamping the sullying rating of team India in football. The demand for the game too seems to be fading after every season.
Efforts to improve practice grounds, stadiums, live telecast and commentary by professional commentators, etc, has not really captivated interest of spectators at the stadiums. Only the semi-final and final encounters may draw standby crowds. Moreover, the whole system seems to be slowly crashing – top teams (Mahindra) have no home crowd; home crowd has no teams (Kerala); and top footballing states have no strong clubs (Manipur).
Much hope was pinned on the National Football League (NFL) teams to boost the game. But half the NFL teams seem to be playing just to exist in the League. Many of them bring ‘foreign’ players only for NFL – either to help get results or defend from being relegated. But then, foreign recruits, although playing attractive and pleasing football, turn out to be dreadfully expensive – an added burden on clubs who try to minimize costs and even think of closing down clubs.
Compared to foreign recruits, our National ‘hopes’ of a World Cup are paid peanuts. And whenever some clubs want to pay a handsome amount, others get jealous, or fellow players feel cheated. Inadvertently, it has all affected the game and ultimately our Indian football.
Players too have become shrewd nowadays, perhaps due to continued insecurity as they grow older by another season. What will I do if the club sacks me? Would I be able to get a similar package in another club? Would I be able to prove myself in a lower club? Would I be able to live up to my ‘living’ standards earning a paltry sum with another (poor) club? Wouldn’t it be a shame to play in lower divisions? Questions such as these continuously haunt established players.
Then there are personal problems of girlfriends and wives and traumatic disputes of family life and friends which distract players from giving their absolute commitment and concentration.
Younger players are far cleverer. They think more of how much they would save at the end of a season and how much they’d be able to sign in the next. Footballers in India usually never retire till they get injured or are forced out. Everyone wants to make some buck before they are axed – and kick football out of their sight -- forever.
Very few are actively involved or inducted in the game after the end of their career. Whereas some are lucky enough to find a job with the club they played, or initiate some business, others have rotted on their past glory, and many fly abroad to pursue a better life. Very few are reckoned as coaches or administrators, or recommended to support the game. Half of those employed in the sport either lack appropriate educational expertise or are ignorant on contemporary competence even though they may show utter enthusiasm, dedication and discipline.
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Book your date --- 31 May 2007
AT FAKHER AL DIN PALACE, KUWAIT CITY
Book your date --- 31 May 2007
AT FAKHER AL DIN PALACE, KUWAIT CITY
KIFF NITE
Organized by Kuwait Indian Football Federation in affiliation with 16 Clubs
::::Sponsored by METRO EXPRESS & co-sponsored by Sports Corner::::
Highlight of the evening: Glamorous Awards Distribution Ceremony with live music by two of Kuwait’s leading bands -- Deep Impact and Soul Shakers.
Master Compere Dunstan D’Costa from Goa will further elevate the evening with floor contests including a ‘Waltz Competition’ for the very first time in Kuwait.
Organized by Kuwait Indian Football Federation in affiliation with 16 Clubs
::::Sponsored by METRO EXPRESS & co-sponsored by Sports Corner::::
Highlight of the evening: Glamorous Awards Distribution Ceremony with live music by two of Kuwait’s leading bands -- Deep Impact and Soul Shakers.
Master Compere Dunstan D’Costa from Goa will further elevate the evening with floor contests including a ‘Waltz Competition’ for the very first time in Kuwait.
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Everything in Indian football functions like an ideal professional set-up except when it comes to paying a player. It is said that football is a team sport. Yet there is a concealed discrimination in players’ remuneration – some are paid Rs. 2 lakhs per month while others in the first eleven are not even paid twenty thousand for the entire season. Will this system encourage lower salaried players to play better than others in the team and fight their way into the first eleven? Or will they be perpetually given a ‘spares’ value? The ‘stars’, however, get credit for all the victories and upcoming players are blamed for defeats.The more our administrators try to boost competition and revolutionalize the game, we find more established clubs reducing annual budgets to cut down expenses, and so, few new stars capable of competing at the Asian level are seen emerging. If this continues, it won’t be long before we ‘eventually’ see find Ranji-d spectators and Cooperage-d stadiums.
Like any federation, the AIFF has relied upon clubs to produce world class players. But we just can’t keep pouring money on foreigners without having them to influence our players and our game.
Mandatory efforts to force clubs to assemble Under-19 teams and hold state-level leagues for youngsters have not really proved productive as far as the National level is concerned. The clubs give little importance to the younger teams which are seen more of an anguish forced on them by the federation.
End result. We cannot rely upon National clubs to raise our standard.
National clubs are more interested in competing with each other than guide players or help encourage youngsters to better themselves. Top clubs are not interested in wasting time in teaching ‘basics’; they all look for professional players.
Worst part of most State level federations is the selection criteria. Players are selected with ‘Indian bikes made for Indian roads’ way of thinking. Upcoming youngsters are as diminutive as dwarfs and as weak as mice. They may be very skilful but should we go for circus material?
There are very few Brahmanands, Sudip Chatterjees, Savio Medeiras, V.P. Satyans, Parminder Singhs, Joe Paul Ancheris, Anthony Rebellos, etc, seen in Indian football nowadays. Why? Because the selectors fail to persuade and induct strongly built players.
Have a look at the present Indian National Volleyball team. Rewind back on the small Ivory Coast football team that played in World Cup 2006 -- one of the best, new teams to impress. Look at all the European teams – especially the German National team. The lads have a built of heavy weight boxers and they are tall and strong. Average weight, now, of world class footballers is 83 kilos and 6 feet tall. And they can cover 100 meters in less than 15 seconds.
Football has become a physical game more than ever; there is no room for wax bones, ‘turtle’ runners and chicken hearts.
Year in and year out we talk about strengthening our clubs, our game and the National team. Of course it is difficult to find hugely built, tall players, and who are skillful. But then, we should weigh up to groom players based on their physique rather than milking bulls.
International football has no place anymore for pocket-sized ‘ball jugglers’. We should have players who can shield the ball with three opponents on their heels, who can sprint -- not just run, who can bulldoze their way not just dash, and who can kick with both feet equally and with accuracy. That should be able to give us a strong advantage over our opponents whenever we step up on to the field. This will mean that the game is already won psychologically before it has started.
GASPER CRASTO
Salgaocar Sports Club (1990-91 to 1998-99)
Web: http://gaspersworld.tripod.com/
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This week will see numerous write-ups from different people looking at the season gone by and the NFL in specific.
Today's guest column is from former player Gasper Crasto, now based in Kuwait, whose write-up "Another Year, Another Season, Where are we...?" looks at where Indian football stands after the end of the 2006/07 season.
Read the complete article here >>IndianFootball.Com Guest Column - Gasper Crasto.
