SOURCE: GOAL.COM
Football in India is at a stage where perception matters one hell of a lot. Barring proper footy fans themselves, the rest of the country still feels the sport is followed only in Kolkata and Goa, that the only top clubs are East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, while the only national teams that interest Indians are Argentina and Brazil.
They still think Bhaichung Bhutia plays every game and scores every goal for the national side, while no more than a handful turn up to watch the team. It’s unfortunate, and perhaps all football fans, at some stage, have had an extended argument with a non-believer, convincing them of the true popularity of the game in the country, and how many fans there actually are.
Every two years or so, the big international tournaments come along and people stop to think, “Okkkk, so people do watch this sport!”, but with nothing much driving the point home till the next biggie two years later, the realization fades in the memory.
Which is why the SAFF Championship is a rather crucial tournament for India to win. Of course, the national team should aim to win each match it plays, especially against neighbouring nations, with desperately-needed ranking points at stake, rarely-on-offer match practice available, and the all-important bragging rights up for grabs. But if we look at the bigger picture, so to speak, the tournament becomes even more vital for creating that much-required ‘good feeling’ about football in India.
It must be said that it’s been a positive year for the game in the country. It kicked off with the Asian Cup in Qatar, for which we qualified after a dreadful gap of 24 years. While the results were almost a foregone conclusion once the draw was made, the players did show a lot of resolve and unity on the pitch, and put up a fight in each game. While some scoffed at three defeats out of three, anyone with a sense of reality accepted that the performances were the best we could hope for.
More good news came in later, as the Argentine football team confirmed their participation in an international friendly in Kolkata, with the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, and Angel Di Maria included. The match turned out to be a huge success, with over 70,000 fans turning up to watch the world’s best footballer in action, who played the entire 90 minutes.
Also, importantly, the country’s premier domestic competition, the I-League, found a national broadcaster! Most of India couldn’t watch the 2010-11 season, while this season has seen more matches being covered than ever before, in a finer manner than ever before.
On the development side of things, AIFF and FIFA announced the setting up of regional and fully-residential academies in Navi Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, and at the Pailan World School in Kolkata. According to a source, Blackburn Rovers have already acquired land for their academy in Pune. Dutchman Rob Baan was appointed as Technical Director by the AIFF to oversee the academies, as well as matters pertaining to the senior and junior national teams.
Additionally, with more and more European clubs announcing their interest in visiting India/setting up academies/scouting for talent/promote themselves, it’s becoming increasingly evident how the rest of the world sees India as a future hotbed of footballing talent and commercial potential.
The national team has had mixed fortunes through the year. It included a historic 2-1 win over Qatar in Doha, but the side couldn’t make much of an impression against UAE in the World Cup qualifiers. The Caribbean tour was disappointing on many fronts, while the recent Malaysia series was entertaining and positive on the whole.
But the year seems to be incomplete, in a sense. While there have been many big announcements and plans off the pitch, there hasn’t been a moment of real joy on it, as yet. That’s what the SAFF Championship could provide, in front of our own fans, in one of the country’s finest stadiums.
The Nehru Stadium is a vast improvement on the Ambedkar, which had gradually evolved into something of a fortress for the national team. The Commonwealth Games ground has a capacity of 60,000-odd, although it would be wishful thinking to assume that any of the tournament’s matches would be sold out. However, if India does reach the knockout stages, and eventually the final, we could expect at least half those seats to have bums, or even feet (!), on them.
It’s a fantastic opportunity for the national team to deliver a real ‘moment’ for Indian football, a memory worth reminiscing over again and again; the stuff of hair-raising Youtube videos that we keep replaying every few days. It would round off and truly complete an eventful year for football in India, and set in stone the fact that the beautiful game is on its way up here.
It’s been the year of opportunity, in the form of the Asian Cup; a year of planning, with the FIFA academies, and a year of (lots of) glamour, with international friendlies, coaching clinics, exchange tours, magazine launches, and further foreign interest (Liverpool, Blackburn, and Barcelona, and now Rangers).
All’s left is for India to turn it into a year of celebration. Bring on the SAFF Championship!
