ISL needs a kick, Indian football deserves more
It is that time of the year again. It's time for glitz and glamour, it's time for the "festival" that is the Indian Super League (ISL). With some of the top names of world football playing for desi clubs, with some desi talent also thrown in, and with Bollywood in close attendance, the pageantry is nothing short of dazzling. The football league, conceived on the lines of its illustrious cricket sibling, the IPL, it seems, is not one to lag behind, and if the player auctions were anything to go by, there is big money to be earned.
With teams as franchises, slick and aggressive marketing, marquee players, an effort is made to turn football into an industry - a veritable money-spinner. "Come on India, let's football," said popular Bollywood stars like Ranbir Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham and two of the country's greatest cricket icons - Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar - threw their might behind the league, and that is all that the ISL needed.
This appealed to the Indian football fans who would surely take the title of the greatest mercenary supporters and cheer leaders. They have had to adopt foreign teams as their own, because except perhaps the Kolkata derby, featuring the legendary clubs East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, occasions to cheer desi players have been few and far between. So a Brazil versus Argentina football rivalry would perhaps not be played out as acutely in Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires, as say in Kolkata. There have been instances of whole neighbourhoods turning "Brazilians" and "Argentines" overnight, ready even to come to blows. People have often fought off sleep and stayed awake all night marvelling at the Messis, Ronaldos, Xavis and Iniestas weaving their magic (unfortunately all good football is telecast in India at such odd hours - perhaps a curse on us, the football poor).
How could this enthusiasm be channelised for the benefit of Indian football? India has had a rich football culture, though it may not seem so. There have been many glorious moments, right from the time a bunch of bare-footed Indians beat their colonial masters in 1911, to when India qualified for the 1950 FIFA World Cup, won the Asian Games gold in 1951 and 1962, and finished fourth in the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. PK Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, Sailen Manna were the leading lights of that era and the baton was carried forward by the likes of Shyam Thapa, Mohammad Habib, Krishanu Dey, Bhaichung Bhutia and IM Vijayan in the time that followed.
Indian clubs, time and again have essayed stories of unmatched heroism against fancied opponents. Mohun Bagan, following its famous 1911 victory, played an exciting 2-2 draw against Pele's Cosmos in the late 1970s. East Bengal, on the other hand, had its own share of glory when it beat foreign clubs like Pyongyang City Sports Club (North Korea), PAS Club (Iran), Verdy Kawasaki (Japan) and Al Zawra (Iraq). JCT beat Iraq's Karkh Club to win the IFA Shield in 1996.
The ISL provided Indian football fans a reason to troop back to the stadium, which they had deserted owing to the substandard fare on view. The involvement of players like Alessandro del Piero, Robert Pires, David Trezeguet, David James and others who had made it big at the biggest stage meant that the quality of football was guaranteed to be sublime. Big names like Maradona, Messi, Lothar Matthäus, Diego Forlan had visited the country from time to time, and some of them had even played here, but so many marquee names, playing a whole tournament, representing Indian clubs was a first. ISL-1, expectedly proved to be a grand success.
However, did it really help Indian football? Local players could now share dressing rooms with the masters of the game, but did they learn anything significant? Did the ISL achieve anything substantial, or was it just a hollow extravaganza, unlike what its promoters would like us to believe?
The del Pieros and David James are hardcore professionals and to expect them to go the extra mile to help upgrade Indian football would be expecting too much. They were here to be a part of the ISL spectacle and help their teams win matches, which they did.
Indian football, meanwhile, showed no signs of improvement, but what's worse, it slipped further into the abyss, with the team losing to Guam, of all teams in World Cup qualifiers, apart from Iran (not surprisingly) and was held by lowly Nepal. It had been beaten by Pakistan in the past, and recently in what can be called the height of ignominy, dropped as low as 167th in the FIFA rankings. The Indian team, which used to be one of the best in Asia, in the course of half-a-century, has become one of the worst teams in the world.
The cause for Indian football's abject poverty today is systemic, something which perhaps an ISL here and there can't rectify. From utter mismanagement by governing bodies, to clubs with myopic visions, rickety infrastructure and non-existent youth development programmes, the malaise runs deep.
Shockingly, the Indian team would be playing stiff World Cup qualifiers in Turkmenistan and Oman, without a single training camp at home. Apparently the ISL franchises were not willing to release players for national duties and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) - the country's apex football body - was totally unperturbed. This is not new in Indian football though and clubs have often come in the way of the national team. This clearly means that for the clubs, the country does not matter. Borrowing a line from a popular Bollywood song, it can be said, "It happens only in India". This shows the AIFF in poor light.
The football governing body's inefficiency is further highlighted by the way it runs the premier national league - which is one of the drabbest affairs you will ever see, regularly played in front of empty stands, on pitches not suited for good football, with shoddy marketing and promotion and inadequate TV coverage. The quality of the players and coaches leaves a lot to be desired and the over-dependence on foreign recruits (in the I-League and the ISL alike) has ensured that there isn't much for Indian football to gain.
Furthermore, clubs are run unprofessionally and often players have accused even well-established clubs of irregular payments. It was a stab in the heart of Indian football when former national league winners Mahindra United and JCT had to be disbanded.
Moreover, the scouting and youth development programme, which is the base for any football superstructure is woefully insufficient in India. Disbanding the AIFF's developmental side - Pailan Arrows - was unfortunate. It is perhaps time to revive the Tata Football Academy (TFA) which used to be a football factory that produced players of great calibre who could even upstage formidable oppositions.
The playing fields are not world class, dressing rooms are not up to the mark and training facilities are inadequate. Hardly any attention is paid to nutrition and muscle-building of the players, which is imperative in a body contact game as football. These and many other factors have to be set in order for Indian football to reclaim its lost glory.
Former national coach Bob Houghton once said, "I guarantee you given the current infrastructure in the country, India will never make it to the World Cup." He had proposed India hosts the tournament which will help build quality infrastructure in the country, much the same way the US did in 1994. India would be hosting the under-17 World Cup in 2017. Isn't that a good beginning? Hoghton would have been happy.
In the meantime, enjoy fests like the ISL all you can, but don't expect any significant change in the sorry affairs of Indian football.