How Bangalore lost I-League representation

In the present times, Bangalore is hardly known for its football. However, the football history of ‘Garden City’ is no less rich than some of the football pockets of India. In the past, Bangalore has given produced famous footballers like Ahmed Khan, MA Sattar, KP Dhanraj, M. Kempaiah, I. Arumainayagam, Ulganathan and many more who have played for top Indian clubs and represented India at international level. Bangalore harbors football pockets in its cantonment areas, more notable in Gowthampura and Austin Town. Although the passion for local football has diminished, the crowd pulling potential for local football still exists. What remains tragic is that no local clubs have done a considerable job in tapping in the potential. Clubs like Bangalore Mars or Bangalore Muslims (first Indian club to win Rovers Cup in 1937; pronounced ‘Best civilian team of India’ by the All-India year book of 1941) have long lost its sheen and they now have sunk so deep that their resurrection seems very unlikely.

For past few decades, local football in Bangalore is mostly kept running by PSUs like HAL SC, MEG, ITI etc. In 2010, Bangalore football was boosted by HAL SC’s (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) qualification into I-League, which meant Bangalore would be hosting HAL’s I-League matches, and top Indian clubs and players would be coming regularly to showcase themselves. In 2010-11 I-League, HAL started with a bang. In their initial matches, they were impressive, looking good to finish comfortably as a mid table team. Towards the end, they had lost their form and were in the relegation battle. In the last two matches, they shocked teams like Dempo and East Bengal to somehow cling onto I-League for another season. At the same time, Bangalore football stadium was undergoing major renovations, which included replacing the old turf with a new artificial turf. There were also talks in AIFF about professionalizing the PSU based clubs. Thus, with a good turf and growing optimism about HAL the 2011-12 season brought a new hope for football followers in the city. But HAL SC had other ideas.

In the last season (2011-12), HAL ended up at the bottom of the I-League table. A quick glance through their records reveals one of the worst I-League performances ever. In 26 matches they managed only 1 win and 5 draws conceding 68 goals (that is more than 2.5 goals per match), scoring only 19. They have leaked in 4 goals or more in seven occasions. To top it all, HAL had accumulated only 1 point in the 13 home games. In this article, I will go through the reasons why HAL finished poorly and thus, Bangalore losing its I-League representation.

The writing was on the wall – HAL’s pre-season efforts:

Even before the start of the I-League, there were many indications of what the future holds. After the 2010-11 season, some of the better players were signed by other clubs – including Xavier Vijay Kumar (Churchill Brothers), one of the most influential players in HAL’s attack and whose heroics in the last two games had kept HAL outside the relegation zone, and J Murali (Mohun Bagan), who led HAL’s midfield.

Apart from them, talented right full back, Srikanth was signed by Pune FC. Nepali international, Rohit Chand, also left the team in the initial phase of I-League (he came back in the later phase). HAL not only failed to find players to reinforce themselves from where they left the team in the preceding season, they also couldn’t sign proper replacements for the players who left, thus, creating a permanent void in the squad. HAL started their new season by losing all three matches in Federation cup against Salgaocar, Pailan Arrows and Mumbai FC. So, even before the I-League had started, HAL was looking unconvincing in their approach and commitment towards building a proper squad.

Tactical blunders –

HAL still had a bunch of players (Malem, Vinoth, Debnath, James to name a few) who although inexperienced, had the talent develop into a decent squad. In such a situation the coach’s decisions become very important. An example was obviously the Air India team, who had mostly inexperienced young players, but Santosh Kashyap molded the team depending on the player’s abilities and limitations and Air India ended the season in mid table. However, Ramalingam Thyagraj (HAL’s coach) and K Muralidharan (HAL’s TD) had other ideas. To start with, they made too many changes in the squad organization. Players were often played in multiple and unfamiliar positions. Joseph Femi, a proper central defender was also played as a defensive midfielder, Lillian Kenneth was played sometimes in defensive midfield and sometimes in central defense, Rohit Chand in left full back, then as central midfielder and later even as an attacking midfielder, Konsam Ajit Singh who is an central midfielder sometimes played as a striker, Goutam Debnath has been seen in central midfield, wings, and full back position. In rare occasions, striker Hamza was seen to be helping out the defense! Such frequent change of organization never allowed the team to reach a sort of stability and discipline needed to steer a weaker team to decent results.

Weaker teams tend to play with a much direct approach with a tight organized defense, speedy attacking players, who would latch onto the long ball from the defenders and catch the position in counter attack. Although, this is not the most attractive football, it is effective, especially for teams who are trying to survive relegation. HAL, on the other hand, initially tried to experiment with some passing football. This, however, backfired badly. They lacked the quality of player who could do that, thus this approach resulted in lots of miss-passes and the fatal faulty back-passes. They also lacked a quality central midfielder who can distribute the ball well. Even when they provided good supply to the strikers – Hamza and Aleksandar, they squandered huge number of chances. When these set of tactics failed, HAL switched to a lone striker formation and relied mostly on wing play as the central midfield lacked creativity, even then they could not make much difference. HAL’s wingers went into attacking zones leaving behind huge gaps, and they hardly tracked back to defense. This helped the opposition to hit them on the counter, a problem which the coaching team could never solve in the two dismal seasons for HAL. In the end, HAL ended up neither playing attractive football nor effective football.

Lack of consistency –

Despite the above mentioned deficiencies, HAL actually played very well in patches. HAL lost many matches where they dominated or at least matched their opponents well. Examples are many – In the home game against Churchill, HAL missed half a dozen of chances, kept Churchill reasonably quiet, and then conceded a ‘soft-goal’ when a floated free kick was misjudged by the goalkeeper, Pramod, and ended up straight to Henry, who slotted the ball into the goal with a simple header. In another home against Mohun Bagan, HAL led 2-0 in half time, ended up losing 2-4. The story goes on, against Sporting club de Goa, HAL squandered a half a dozen of chances to get a 2-2 draw and against Air India, HAL dominated in the first half, led 2-1 and still lost 2-4. In the away match against Churchill they led 1-0 till 80th min and ended up with a 1-1 draw. In the home match against Mumbai FC, most of the game was played in Mumbai FC’s half but Mumbai FC won the game 5-1, as they scored almost with every counter attack they had. Overall this shows the lack of motivation in the squad which probably also contributed to the number of concentration lapses and lack of consistency throughout a game.

Indifference shown by HAL management –

HAL management hardly showed any efforts to improve the condition of the club. Forget about off field promotion, they didn’t seem to be much bothered by the on-field woes. To start with, they didn’t go for any top player after the stars of previous season left. HAL took Aleksandar as one of their foreign strikers, who turned out to be one of the worst foreigners to play in I-League in present times. How HAL coaches, after trails, took a player whose basic skills of trapping and passing are questionable is a mystery. Even after finishing the 1^st half of the league with only 2 points, the management continued with the coach and TD. These raises the question of how serious were the HAL authorities on the team.

Now it is too late to contemplate much upon HAL’s relegation. HAL’s relegation has been a loss for Bangalore football and I-League in general which is struggling to spread out throughout India. Now it is time for Bangalore to think beyond PSU based clubs and support more professional clubs. The rise of South United FC is a welcome change and football followers in the city would be hoping for its quick rise.