I put here, for your perusal, an article from The Hindu on the prospects and potential for the future of the piede sport in our country, the challenges and roadblocks we face in popularizing the sport at the grassroots level, the challenge of talent management & recruitment, and invite your discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of the sport as it is practiced in India at the present and its governing bodies.
A future for football?
The DBYC's State-level football tournament conducted recently had all the trappings of the earlier days when a match evoked a festive mood attracting a huge crowd. It is only an indication that there is still hope for the game.
WHAT IS a football final without the ambience of a goodly crowd? The sight inspires everyone. The cheer from thousands watching a player can have a great soothing effect than the ice, water and spray, which by far form the standard tools in the hands of first-aid attendants on a football field. Considered a common man's sport, more because of the low cost involved in practising it, football has perhaps scripted the greatest number of rags-to-riches story in the history of sports.
It still is a game that is identified with the downtrodden for, the fact remains that only in football can you hear of a talent rising from merely kicking objects made into shapes of a ball before going on to kicking the real football and becoming a legend in his lifetime. Talk of football, don't the names Pele and Maradona come to mind instantly, men who rose from humble settings and enchanted millions of football fans and also raked in millions for their God-given gift?
Over 200 countries in the world patronise football. In India, actually the national scene is limited to Bengal, Kerala and Goa. This, despite football in India being a multi-crore-rupee industry more so after the advent of the national league, seven seasons ago.
A city like Chennai, which until a few decades ago attracted football tournaments with rousing crowd support, has baffled observers with the growing spectator disinterest. A national league match, for instance, involving the state's best team and other glamour teams at the modern Nehru stadium with a seating capacity of over 40,000 is today witnessed in a virtually sepulchral setting with hardly a few hundreds making for a crowd.
Old timers puzzled at the current trend rave about how even in the 1980's, all roads would lead to the old Corporation stadium (on which the current Nehru stadium stands) at the time of a football tournament. Festoons and banners fluttering in the evening breeze, mikes blaring out popular Tamil film numbers, eateries around making roaring business and then of course, the jostling crowd, it is an experience to savour for a football fan. Then comes the excitement on the turf. It must be said the standards of the game too were a notch higher than what is seen in present times. At least a few players had their own set of devoted followers.
It was thus these curious trappings of earlier times that one came across in the conduct of the Don Bosco Youth Centre's (DBYC) state-level tournament in memory of a football lover and a former official of the then Madras Football Association, Fr McFerran at Wisdom Town in Red Hills, some 30 km away from the city. The crowd, the festive mood, the music in the air, everything formed a throwback to the early Chennai days when watching football matches was an indulgent pastime at the Corporation stadium. The cheering and jeering formed part and parcel of the proceedings even as misdirected kicks brought about a ripple in the stands to grasp the ball or deflect it away. If the Red Hills experience is any indication then there is hope for football not in the city but on the outskirts such as Tambaram, Kanchipuram, Poonamallee, Avadi and Tiruvallur, where the enthusiasm of both the organisers and the public has been a revelation. What made the DBYC venture different is that it sought to extend the love for the game that the late Fr McFerran had expressed during his time in the city. The Irish priest was well known for his services towards the uplift of the downtrodden and he believed that football was one sport that helped in character-building. Besides, the sport is easily identified with the poor and the under-privileged. The various DBYCs in the city encourage members to take up this game and the tournament adds to developing interest in the neighbourhood. In present times, the DBYC owes it to Fr N. Gerrard, who had the experience of being closely associated with Fr McFerran, for keeping the tournament alive and providing the villages around the Wisdom Town area an annual festival of sorts.
"Last year, there was a bigger crowd because the temporary stands rose higher and there were more seats. Around 5,000 was the average daily attendance and 15,000 on the final day," said Fr Gerrard on the rousing start to the tournament at the new venue. However, like any sports event that lacked enough sponsorship and depended on donations, tightening the expenses became mandatory. Still an arena with a full audience and the presence of the Thiruvallur district collector on the final day only raised the stature of the tournament.
"A national-level tournament" is what Fr Gerrard dreams of to motivate the youth in the villages around Red Hills though what is also close to his heart is launching a sports academy at the centre to "develop sports skills and talent and in turn make outstanding sportspersons and good citizens".
What, however, makes him cautious is the uncertainty with regard to financial support, in particular from the Government. The huge expenses incurred in levelling the earth and converting it into a good playground apart from raising the temporary structure are only too difficult for a non-governmental body to handle in the absence of adequate financial support. However, what Fr Gerrard was glad about this time was the gesture of the Member-Secretary of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, P.W.C. Davidar, to be present on a match day not only to see for himself the enthusiasm at the centre for the competition but also to discuss areas where DBYC and the SDAT could work hand in hand to encourage sports development in the Red hills area. It is a small start that promises major gains in the seasons to come.
For the moment, however, if someone wishes to see a football match amidst a good gathering, forget the city, go to the outskirts!
S.R. SURAYANARAYAN
The Hindu : A future for football?