Guess which party Indians never get invited to?
It’s a party that Indians never get invited to. No, I don’t mean the Manurewa Cossie Club; I was referring to the FIFA World Cup, the greatest show on earth.
Okay, how does it happen that a country of 1200 million people can’t even get within shooting distance of the football finals?
Unlike other sports, in which India seems to be making some – albeit painfully slow – strides, football has actually declined over the years. Back in the 1980’s the Indian football team used to take part in the qualifying rounds only to go down to the other Asian teams. But at least we used to put up a fight. Now we don’t even bother to turn up for the qualifying rounds. In the South Asian championships, we now get beaten by Nepal!
That a nation of 1.2 billion people is sitting out the party is deplorable when you look at Slovenia which has played some plucky football in South Africa. The southern Slavic nation has a population of only two million, and incredibly they have only 429 registered professional footballers. In a do or die world cup qualifying match they edged out a Russian team on the ascendant.
Or look at New Zealand. It may have qualified in below par playoffs, but the country’s subsequent performances in the pool matches have shown what a committed bunch of players can achieve. How many players play football in New Zealand? Indeed, their players are drawn from a very small base.
Comparisons to China are inevitable. Some will say that the world’s most populous country didn’t qualify either. But such comparisons miss the point entirely – China is a sports powerhouse, excelling in a wide range of sports, and they topped the gold medals tally in the last Olympics.
It is worth mentioning that unlike China, India is a sports mad country. In China, success in sports is attained through a massive programme that scouts the country’s schools for promising young players, who are then groomed at numerous world class academies. It is the academies that decide who will play what – athletes have little leeway to choose. Sport is not for fun, it is a serious matter in the communist nation. The whole exercise is aimed at winning gold medals in the Olympics to boost national pride, which keeps the Communist Party in power.
India is different. Historically, we are a diehard sporting nation. Hockey was invented in India. Sports festivals are common in every village across our vast country. Virtually every sport – even that silly scuffle called rugby – is played in the country. While cricket is the most glamorous sport, football remains the number one sport. Kerala, Punjab, Bengal, Manipur and Goa are the soccer hubs of India and people actually pay good money to watch club football in those states.
This tremendous energy and passion, however, remains untapped. Sports academies function as offices that offer sinecures for lackeys and flunkies of politicians. Football associations are run by people who may not be able to bend it like Beckham but can bend at their political master’s will.
Football stadia are hired out for musical evenings or political rallies. Many indoor stadia are hired out for events such as mango festivals. Nothing wrong with that – as long as the players are allowed to practise, the associations should be allowed to make some extra cash. But forget practise, players are asked to pack up their bags and find alternate accommodation when the stadia are hired out for extended events like trade fairs.
I have watched some marvellous football matches in India. Back in the eighties, the Jawaharlal Nehru Trophy used to be a superb annual event for exposing Indians to world class football, with the likes of Russia, Poland, Chile, China and Romania sending their best teams. The stadia were full, the atmosphere used to be electric, and Delhi had a football buzz, which cricket has never provided. Sadly, the dark lords of Indian football did not capitalise on that success.
The Sports Ministry remains a consolation prize for the worst performing political party. Sports Ministers are rarely heard of and you can bet they are a frustrated lot, despite the fact that there is a whole lot they can achieve.
In fact, I think Indian politicians have nothing but contempt for sports. Remember what sports minister M.S. Gill said in August 2009, hours after Vijay Mallay’s Force India created history on the Formula One tracks? “F1 is not sports. The proposed F1 race does not satisfy conditions which focus on human endeavour for excelling in competition with others," said Gill, and turned down a request for tax breaks for India’s first F1 track that’s coming up near Delhi.
Strangely, India is the only country in the world which has not matched its economic clout with sporting success. While economically, scientifically and militarily we are a giant, with huge influence in trade and climate talks, and massive space and naval programmes, we remain pigmies in the sports arena.
Even declining powers like the US and UK are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into prestige oriented programmes that aim to send their boys on to the podium. Yet, we remain wedded to Nehru’s philosophy of “participation is more important than winning”. That philosophy has led to the current situation where we can’t even participate.
If India is to climb out of the rankings netherworld – currently we are ranked 138 in football – then nothing less than a massive injection of funds into Indian schools will do. The magic words are “catch ’em young”. Committed coaches and administrators, with a passion for the game and who dream of Indian soccer stars drilling 40-yarders into the back of the seat, have to be in charge.
If such programmes kick off now, perhaps a generation from now we can hope to see Indian strikers duel with the best in the world. Until then we can keep backing Brazil.
(About the author: Rakesh Krishnan is a features writer at Fairfax New Zealand. He has previously worked with Businessworld, India Today and Hindustan Times, and was news editor with the Financial Express.)
It’s a party that Indians never get invited to. No, I don’t mean the Manurewa Cossie Club; I was referring to the FIFA World Cup, the greatest show on earth.
Okay, how does it happen that a country of 1200 million people can’t even get within shooting distance of the football finals?
Unlike...
It’s a party that Indians never get invited to. No, I don’t mean the Manurewa Cossie Club; I was referring to the FIFA World Cup, the greatest show on earth.
Okay, how does it happen that a country of 1200 million people can’t even get within shooting distance of the football finals?
Unlike other sports, in which India seems to be making some – albeit painfully slow – strides, football has actually declined over the years. Back in the 1980’s the Indian football team used to take part in the qualifying rounds only to go down to the other Asian teams. But at least we used to put up a fight. Now we don’t even bother to turn up for the qualifying rounds. In the South Asian championships, we now get beaten by Nepal!
That a nation of 1.2 billion people is sitting out the party is deplorable when you look at Slovenia which has played some plucky football in South Africa. The southern Slavic nation has a population of only two million, and incredibly they have only 429 registered professional footballers. In a do or die world cup qualifying match they edged out a Russian team on the ascendant.
Or look at New Zealand. It may have qualified in below par playoffs, but the country’s subsequent performances in the pool matches have shown what a committed bunch of players can achieve. How many players play football in New Zealand? Indeed, their players are drawn from a very small base.
Comparisons to China are inevitable. Some will say that the world’s most populous country didn’t qualify either. But such comparisons miss the point entirely – China is a sports powerhouse, excelling in a wide range of sports, and they topped the gold medals tally in the last Olympics.
It is worth mentioning that unlike China, India is a sports mad country. In China, success in sports is attained through a massive programme that scouts the country’s schools for promising young players, who are then groomed at numerous world class academies. It is the academies that decide who will play what – athletes have little leeway to choose. Sport is not for fun, it is a serious matter in the communist nation. The whole exercise is aimed at winning gold medals in the Olympics to boost national pride, which keeps the Communist Party in power.
India is different. Historically, we are a diehard sporting nation. Hockey was invented in India. Sports festivals are common in every village across our vast country. Virtually every sport – even that silly scuffle called rugby – is played in the country. While cricket is the most glamorous sport, football remains the number one sport. Kerala, Punjab, Bengal, Manipur and Goa are the soccer hubs of India and people actually pay good money to watch club football in those states.
This tremendous energy and passion, however, remains untapped. Sports academies function as offices that offer sinecures for lackeys and flunkies of politicians. Football associations are run by people who may not be able to bend it like Beckham but can bend at their political master’s will.
Football stadia are hired out for musical evenings or political rallies. Many indoor stadia are hired out for events such as mango festivals. Nothing wrong with that – as long as the players are allowed to practise, the associations should be allowed to make some extra cash. But forget practise, players are asked to pack up their bags and find alternate accommodation when the stadia are hired out for extended events like trade fairs.
I have watched some marvellous football matches in India. Back in the eighties, the Jawaharlal Nehru Trophy used to be a superb annual event for exposing Indians to world class football, with the likes of Russia, Poland, Chile, China and Romania sending their best teams. The stadia were full, the atmosphere used to be electric, and Delhi had a football buzz, which cricket has never provided. Sadly, the dark lords of Indian football did not capitalise on that success.
The Sports Ministry remains a consolation prize for the worst performing political party. Sports Ministers are rarely heard of and you can bet they are a frustrated lot, despite the fact that there is a whole lot they can achieve.
In fact, I think Indian politicians have nothing but contempt for sports. Remember what sports minister M.S. Gill said in August 2009, hours after Vijay Mallay’s Force India created history on the Formula One tracks? “F1 is not sports. The proposed F1 race does not satisfy conditions which focus on human endeavour for excelling in competition with others," said Gill, and turned down a request for tax breaks for India’s first F1 track that’s coming up near Delhi.
Strangely, India is the only country in the world which has not matched its economic clout with sporting success. While economically, scientifically and militarily we are a giant, with huge influence in trade and climate talks, and massive space and naval programmes, we remain pigmies in the sports arena.
Even declining powers like the US and UK are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into prestige oriented programmes that aim to send their boys on to the podium. Yet, we remain wedded to Nehru’s philosophy of “participation is more important than winning”. That philosophy has led to the current situation where we can’t even participate.
If India is to climb out of the rankings netherworld – currently we are ranked 138 in football – then nothing less than a massive injection of funds into Indian schools will do. The magic words are “catch ’em young”. Committed coaches and administrators, with a passion for the game and who dream of Indian soccer stars drilling 40-yarders into the back of the seat, have to be in charge.
If such programmes kick off now, perhaps a generation from now we can hope to see Indian strikers duel with the best in the world. Until then we can keep backing Brazil.
(About the author: Rakesh Krishnan is a features writer at Fairfax New Zealand. He has previously worked with Businessworld, India Today and Hindustan Times, and was news editor with the Financial Express.)
Leave a Comment