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Let me start this article by stating some facts about some of the countries participating in the World Cup.
| COUNTRY | POPULATION |
|---|---|
| Costa Rica | 49 lakhs |
| Iran | 7.6 crores |
| Algeria | 3.8 crores |
| India | 120 crores |
Now, clearly population of a country has no relation whatsoever with success in football but my point here is when such small nations can produce 11 good footballers to represent their country at the World Cup, why can’t a country with a population of 120 crores do so? The answer to this question is deep rooted into the psychology of our society and the way our government sees sports.
We as a society do not promote sports and sportspersons. Parents do not see sports as a career for their children. Parents want their children to be an engineer or a doctor. In such a situation, who would want to become a footballer? The Lionel Messis and Cristiano Ronaldos of this world were not produced in a day. Their talent was spotted at an early age and nurtured through football academies. They were given proper coaching and guidance.They were helped and motivated by their families. All these things are a far distant dream for any child aspiring to be a footballer in India.
We lack proper coaches, training facilities and even playing grounds. How many of us know the name of a football ground in India? Without the proper infrastructure, no sports can grow. We would not be a cricket superpower without the infrastructure facilities. For football to prosper, we need to have proper academies for nurturing of talent.
Some people make a point that since football is not so popular in India, therefore we do not have a good football team. Let me state a fact in response to this. Football viewership of top football leagues in India is close to 83 million according to a survey done by TAM Media Research. It has third highest viewership of any sport in India.
What Indians lack is not the passion for football. We lack any initiative from the government in helping and supporting this sport. When small nations can send teams to FIFA world cup, surely with the right plan in mind India can. There is no dearth of talent in India. It just needs to be promoted and given proper facilities to train. When there are better incentives for a child to enter sports, then only the psychology of parents will change and they will promote their children into getting into sports.
Currently, India has a FIFA ranking of 154. Lesser know countries like Belize, Malawi, Burundi,Guatemela etc. have a better ranking than us. This should be a matter of shame for us. It is time for the government to rise from its sleep and do something about it. Here’s wishing ache din soon for Indian Football.
