Within / Without

My grandpa loves football. Sitting in Palakkad, I am pretty sure he’s keeping a close tab on how the World Cup unfolds. I thought a lot of him through my conversations on football in Prague. I keep getting asked “One billion people and no football?” I tell them that football is definitely played in India. That we have some very old clubs. That a lot has to do with the fact that the government is relatively selective about which sports it chooses to support. Sponsorship is hard to come by for football. I have this old photograph of my grandfather posing with a cup. The photograph is taken in 1946, and I think they’ve won some sort of region-level football series, College of Engineering, Guindy. It’s a bunch of young boys really. They look very tired. Very satisfied. The photograph gives me goosebumps.

We were obviously playing a lot more than just cricket. Hockey had its peak at various points in the previous century. I have friends from the NorthEast who tell me that football is played far more than cricket. I’ve even seen a lot of street football. But the politics of selecting which sport gets government support, infrastructure and even scholarship support is huge. Besides, since only one game appears to pay well in India – students probably prefer to try their luck with education instead. The story is no different for athletes.

While pondering on these questions, I also came across Sportolysis thanks to DP.

And yet, this was the country which qualified to play in the 1950 World Cup finals. Of course, it’s another story that we didn’t travel because the football team insisted on playing barefoot. It might also surprise many to know that some of the country football clubs are older than most popular football clubs in Europe, including Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan.

So what ails Indian football? Is it politics, lack of money, lack of interest or are we simply condemned to support Brazil, Italy, England and the like? To understand the situation better, I spoke to a few officials in some football associations. People in such positions will hardly concede that it is internal politics which stalls the development of the game. Lack of money is the reason everyone cites.

Someday, we’ll kick that that ball. Hopefully.

Update: Some links to feast on. All India Football Federation on football in India since the late 19th century. The Wikipedia on football in India. There’s also stuff about the oldest football tournament in India – the Durand Cup, and how it’s the third oldest tournament in the world!

Posted on June 26th, 2006 by Neha Viswanathan
Filed under: Culture, Family and Friends, India