Action from the DSA Senior Division League 2013 final match between Garhwal Heroes (in yellow)

Since winning the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy in 1944-45, when they beat heavyweights Bengal 2-0 in the final, none of the teams from Delhi have had any major success at the national level. Currently, the game in the National Capital Region has nosedived — football has lost its mass appeal because the entire structure is so unplanned.
Why are Delhi clubs not good enough to qualify for the I-League even though the national body, the All India Football Federation (AIFF), is based in the Capital city? What ails the sport in the city?

Solely from the business point of view, the game is not market-oriented in India. There is no return on the investments made in the game. Barring the derbies between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, none of the I-League matches fetch any returns.

That’s a pan-India picture of the game.

And, Delhi is no exception.

Unplanned schedules, lack of infrastructure, absence of serious grass-root programmes for the kids and a myopic vision have led to the downfall of the game in the Capital.

“Compared to the year-long football activities in Kolkata and Goa, Delhi clubs aren’t too serious to work beyond their three-odd month schedule because most clubs don’t have sound financial support. Hence, the clubs employ players for only three-four months of the year,” said former India captain Prasanta Banerjee, who had coached city’s Tarun Sangha club in 2009.

The Delhi Football League has three tiers – Senior, Division A and Division B. Unlike the leagues in Calcutta and Goa, the tournaments are haphazardly planned and even the clubs usually wake up to sign their players only when the DSA announce the tournament dates. Till then, city’s football activity goes into a sleep mode.

Not surprisingly then, the major corporate houses don’t show much interest in these clubs because they don’t have an identity in Indian football like Bagan and East Bengal.

“The game needs a corporate leader like (former chief of Board of Control for Cricket in India) Jagmohan Dalmiya or (former commissioner of the Indian Premier League) Lalit Modi. We need someone who would have a vision to market the game because the whole structure is so unprofessional,” says Bahadur Singh Mehra of Delhi United, who made their debut in the 2nd Division I-League this year.

The 39-year-old Mehra, an entrepreneur, developed a team that was playing in the A Division in Delhi League five years ago into a top-notch team which gained promotion to the Senior Division League in 2008. In just three years, the club won the Senior Division League title in 2011-12 season.

Money indeed is a big factor and the absence of a strong financial support has triggered the game’s downfall.

Goodwill FC at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi. Garhwal won 1-0 for their second title after 1986

However, in 2007 when the I-League kicked-off, corporates began to show interest in Delhi clubs. Art auction house Osians bought New Delhi Heroes in 2007 while Amity took over Nationals a year later. Shastri owners, who incurred losses in their family businesses, decided to sell the club to Delhi-based Infinity Optimal Solution, a sports management company. The takeover of ND Heroes by Osian gave a ray of hope but the honeymoon quickly got over when the company backed out after a year.

“Today, a senior division club needs minimum Rs 15-20 lakh. That’s a huge amount for a Delhi club and there are no investors. Last season, I’ve invested around Rs 54 lakhs on my team solely from my own earnings,” added Mehra.

But Syed Shaheen, secretary of Delhi Soccer Association (DSA), the game’s parent body in the state, and a former player with both Nationals and Moonlight, believes that non-availability of grounds is one of the main reasons why Delhi hasn’t come up strongly.

“In earlier times, the city had Mughals Ground, Government of India Press Ground and many others. There’re no parks and open spaces where one can play football,” complained Shaheen.

Another reason would be decline in patronage shown by some of the prominent schools as most Delhi players came from Anglo-Arabic, PGDAV (Daryaganj) and Raisina (Bengali Market) where football was the top game.

The 317-year-old Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School at Ajmeri Gate, near the New Delhi Station, which produced renowned footballers like Shujaat Ashraf, Latifuddin Najam and Ikram-ul Haq, doesn’t patronise the sport as it once used to do.

The inter-school tournaments in the city are too few to attract the youngsters. The Anglo-Arabic School revived the Sherwani Cup after nearly 30 years under a new name in 2009, but it isn’t enough. There are a couple of other tournaments but they have done little to boost the game.

Senior Delhi player Rishi Kapoor, who played two seasons in Mohun Bagan in 2000-01 and 2003-4 and now represents Delhi United, felt that there is a serious lack of interest in Delhi’s football.

Add to it the city youth’s choice of watching the glitzy English Premier League on TV rather than travel to Delhi’s Ambedkar Stadium and follow the meandering state league matches which are often held in Delhi’s torturous heat.

“When I started playing in the mid-90s lot of people used to come and watch our games in Senior Division League. But all that has stopped now because the League is just not attractive,” he explained.

But the parent body’s own poor management skill ensured that the city lost out in the race to traditional pockets like Bengal and Goa.

Last Monday, former champions Mohun Bagan comprehensively defeated Pailan Arrows 2-0 to confirm their stay in the top tier I-League for next season. When the Calcutta team re-started in January after paying a hefty fine for refusing to play in the second-half against East Bengal, the team’s morale was definitely low after the All India Football Federation (AIFF) declared all their previous matches null and void.

“Any message for the Bagan fans?,” I asked Karim Bencharifa over the phone from Doha.

“Have patience in difficult times, support when needed and celebrate in good times,” replied the affable Moroccan coach, who now seemed happy to see his team overcome the relegation.

He termed the re-start campaign in the I-League as “challenging and difficult”

“We had to start from zero point. It was really difficult for any team to start afresh,” said the Bagan coach.

Understandably, it was one of the most difficult phases for the glamorous team, which last won the tournament in 2001-02, when it was known as the National Football League. But Bencharifa’s inspirational words have guided the Mariners, who almost lost hope of playing in the I-League when AIFF slapped the club with a two-year ban after that ill-fated match against East Bengal last December.

So do you think a section of the AIFF targeted against the club?

“I don’t think so. I think we paid the price of a match that didn’t go well. It was a lesson for all of us. I don’t such thing will happen again as everybody was aware of what went wrong,” said Bencharifa.

Personally, I always felt that the Moroccan should have taken up the Indian job when Bob Houghton left the post in June, 2011.

Bencharifa, known for his sound knowledge and already experienced with the Indian clubs, was associated with Salgaocar then. But he turned down the offer and the football pundits felt that the Indian team missed the chance of having an experienced coach.

Bencharifa joined Churchill Brothers in 2006 and he immediately left an indelible impression when he managed the young Goan side. I had the opportunity to meet him at Ludhiana’s Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College ground in January. The Moroccan was new in India but his footballing knowledge had impressed everyone, right from the snooty Churchill owner to his opponent teams. No wonder he was voted Coach of the Year in 2007 & 2008.

“I know Karim well. Both of us have studied together in Rabat University,” said Al Sadd’s Moroccan coach, Housseine Amouta.

Amouta, in fact, spoke highly about Bencharifa’s pedigree as a coach.

“He has been successful with clubs in our country. He is a sensible coach and knows how to work with or without star players,” added Amouta, who last month won the Qatar Stars League with Sadd.

In the last six years, Bencharifa has completely understood the requirements in an Indian club. Coaching Bagan is always a difficult job, but he has made it look so simple. When Santosh Kashyap was struggling with the club, when Bagan appointed him their new coach early this season, the officials had no option but to recall the Moroccan back to Calcutta. The 45-year-old Bencharifa quickly reinstated himself and gave the Mariners a new lease of life.

Though the incident-marred derby against East Bengal had rocked the boat, the Moroccan ensured his team was back on track. Barring their defeat against Salgaocar when the Calcutta team restarted their campaign in mid-January, the team remained unbeaten in their next 10 matches.

As the League enters the last two rounds, both Bagan and Bencharifa should be happy, as at least, they have achieved a target. Bagan play their last two matches away against Churchill Brothers and United Sikkim FC.

“We should aim for the best position in the League table,” said Bencharifa.

Image courtesy AIFF Media

When I first met Sanjoy Sen two years back at the Ambedkar Stadium after a Durand Cup match, I was quite impressed with his simplicity and down-to-earth demeanour. At that time, he was guiding the Prayag United ship, and he was immediately noticed for his sensible coaching.

Sen was under the shadow of the then technical director Subrata Bhattacharya, but he never complained, being an affable person with quite a pleasing personality.

Having helped Mohammedan Sporting gain an I-League berth last week, Sen can easily be hailed as one of the most intelligent coaches in the country, one who talks less but has supreme command over his own abilities. Under him, Sporting lost just one match out of 17. Though there have been murmurs around the corner about an alleged ‘fixed match’ against Rangdajied United, however, it won’t put a blotch on Sen’s contributions.

Besides his achievement, Sen would stand out as one of those coaches who has been sincere, less talkative and focused. He never believed in a star team and had major success with Prayag, whom he joined in 2010-11. His less-glamorous team would often beat Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, and did commendably well in the I-League last season.

At a time when Indian football is replete with foreign coaches, Sen’s emergence comes as a huge relief. He isn’t a larger-than-life personality like many others, including his one-time technical director at Prayag. Subrata was preferred to Sen by the club because of former’s fame as a former star player at Mohun Bagan.

Even the media didn’t write much about him after his Prayag success, because his CV didn’t have a mention of either Bagan or East Bengal.

As players, Arsene Wenger or Jose Mourinho never played at big clubs. But our own Indian club officials have a weird idea of associating the ‘big club’ theory whenever they recruit a prospective coach. They inadvertently get attracted easily to a CV which has a mention of top clubs. In his playing career, the 52-year old Sen played for the Railways Football Club in the Calcutta League, and despite not having a big-club background, has been able to cement his place as a successful coach.

At the Ambedkar Stadium dugout, when Subrata used to scream at his players during the match, the low-profile Sen quietly watched. Ask any players from his former team, and they would always hail him as someone who did the ‘real job’ of making Prayag one of the top teams in the I-League.

Last year in November, Prayag decided to part ways with him after the early exit from the Federation Cup and the alleged inability to manage the star names in the dressing room.

Well, it sounds a trifle absurd to axe a coach on such flimsy grounds. Sen proved his merit in less than six months after Sporting’s successful campaign in the I-League second division.

Sen’s case reminds me of Tapan Jyoti Mitra, who once successfully coached Mohammedan Sporting in early 90s. He evolved as a promising coach in the Maidan, but later disappeared from the scene. Last heard, Mitra is working as a coach for the juniors at Avenue Sammilani Club, which is located at Rabindra Sarobar on the southern fringes of Kolkata.

I don’t understand why our own Indian coaches don’t get recognition. Sen has had success with Prayag and his season with Sporting makes him a good enough to handle bigger teams. But off late, since there has been a growing tendency to hire foreign coaches for our clubs, Sen and others will have to wait.

Mehtab Hussain (Number 14) made a comeback to football after a bout with alcoholism

I knew one Abid Hussain from my locality in Calcutta. He was short-built but possessed a muscular physique. Also, Hussain, then a 17-year-old, showed glimpses of his football talent in the area during the weekend ‘nukkad’ futsal games.

Hussain’s father ran a small grocery shop near my home. It was through him that I got to know this young footballer, who later donned Eastern Railways and Mohammedan Sporting in the early 90s. He was a good striker and often scored in crucial games for Sporting, where he became a darling of the crowd.

Before I left for Delhi in 1996, Hussain told me that he had got a job in the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC). And I wished him more luck and success.

But that was it.

A couple of years later when I visited Calcutta, I found out that Hussain had completely faded into oblivion. Even his father doesn’t know much of his whereabouts. I was told that he got married and settled down somewhere in Calcutta and left the game too early. Hussain’s case is a study in point that without the services of professional management experts, a footballer’s career may go haywire.

After finding fame, they thrust into relative plenty after enduring years of poverty. Since they don’t get proper advice, they fall victim to profligate lifestyles.

In fact, these improper lifestyle choices have laid low many promising young Bengali players. Apart from Hussain, East Bengal’s Shashti Duley and Abhijit Roy Choudhury, who represented all the Big Three, was allegedly linked to the underworld.

Even the talented and baby-faced former India defender Falguni Dutta, who played for East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting, sacrificed his career because of alcoholism.

If we scan the football clubs in Calcutta, chances are that we will get to hear or see a lot more of these incidents, which were made bigger by the same media who once made these footballers heroes.

But I’m sure that India’s other football centres are also infested with such incidents where an upcoming player had to quit the game probably after he got too frustrated in his career and then came under the influence of alcohol.

Born in poverty-stricken families, most budding footballers lack basic education. That seems to be the core of such problems. When they become ‘famous’, they don’t care about their future. They love to spend big money on themselves and on their friends.

I think these are social issues which can only be addressed by the players’ management companies. But even today, some of the well-known players are not to keen to hire the services of such professionals because they feel it’s a waste of money. Since they lack the basic education, they remain in the dark about the positives of the services of these management companies.

There is also another glitch. Since none of the clubs are professionally managed, a lot of these players usually fall prey to materialistic attractions. Also, the clubs, which are often managed by a number of non-technical people, aren’t really serious when it comes to imposing any kind of strict professional discipline.

I won’t name one or two East Bengal players from the current batch who were involved in some alleged criminal cases. These things can only be avoided if they are told that their performance is the yardstick to success.

Baichung Bhutia or Ramirez Barretto were some of the finest players in Indian football because of their disciplined lifestyle. They were professionals who never indulged in the glitzy lifestyles, and were always present for their club’s training sessions the next morning.

Baichung Bhutia is known for his disciplined lifestyle

Most of these footballers are not aware of the marketing viabilities. For example, Syed Rahim Nabi, who is also known to be a disciplined player, has never understood the relevance of players’ management. He doesn’t know where to spend his earnings. At the other end, Mehtab Hussain, another promising player, almost quit football a couple of years ago after his alleged alcoholism but returned back to the field. He thanked East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan many times for ‘motivating’ him. Hussain was lucky that the Englishman understood his potential and hence he got a fresh lease of life as a footballer.

Unfortunately, there are many similar unknown footballers that get caught in the vicious circle of fame, fortune and the eventual fall.

The cool breeze from the Hooghly river brought back some succour to a city usually affected by the sweat and humidity. It was an overcast sky and the first week of May surprisingly looked quite pleasant. Last year, a brisk walk from Curzon Park near BBD Bag to Ho Chi Min Sarani gave me some kind of a strange feeling – old memories of my struggling days in sports journalism returned back.

The Eden Gardens now boasts of ‘Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo Re’, as the outer walls of the stadium were pasted with the golden and black colors of KKR.

Yet, with all those multiple sports clubs spread all over, the Maidan still hasn’t lost much of its lush green texture. Probably, it remained the same as it was some 100 years back, or when I left the city in 1996. I could still feel the freshness of the green belt, untouched by the mercenaries.

Though Calcutta remained one of the passionate cities, I felt a blockage in its footballing vein. This year, the IPL mercenaries have found their way from the Eden Gardens to the city’s exclusive footballing venue – Salt Lake Stadium on the eastern fringes of Calcutta. Cricket is a multi-billion dollar business, and after KKR’s success last season, it has now established its rein and is almost set to knock the I-League from the Salt Lake Stadium.

Genetically, Bengalis are known to be idealists who would seldom chase huge chunks of wealth. Music, poetry, paintings and football gave them an identity as they weren’t known to be an expert in entrepreneurship. That was the domain which belonged to the Marwari and Gujrati communities of the city.

But with the advent of consumerism and IPL, there has been a change. The Bengali youth, which also included those from the non-Bengali communities who were born in the city, became addicted to the jazzy IPL as I-League lacked the colour and energy. These youth prefer a fast-forward game which identifies them. Football, much due to the lack of aggressive marketing, has been shot down by the consumerist IPL.

Still, the city lives in the Mohun Bagan-East Bengal derbies. But have the large section of the real ‘Bengalis’ really tried hard to stop the game from being hurled to the Hooghly river?

After the recent changes in schedule of the I-Leauge, it may appear that both the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Indian Football Association (IFA) have kept quiet without raising their voices against hosting the IPL opening ceremony at the Salt Lake Stadium.

Even top clubs like East Bengal and Mohun Bagan haven’t spoken much, because some of their officials are also honorary members in the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), parent body of Bengal’s cricket. So, it becomes a privilege for them to strike a pose with Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla – KKR co-owners.

IPL hasn’t intruded football. In fact, it is consumerism which has forced to change the taste of the Bengalis, who I know would have never compromised with the game’s future. But again, we’re talking about huge chunks of money in the sport, which sadly isn’t there in the I-League.

India’s premier football tournament is set to resume in the city on March 20. But the venue, the Salt Lake Stadium, has already been booked by the IPL authorities for its opening ceremony on April 2.

Six I-League games will be shifted to Kalyani, on the outskirts of Calcutta, and that’s a real advertisement for the I-League.

Bengalis, who are known to raise their voice against any unjust acts, surprisingly have kept quiet. I’m sure, by the next decade, they will lose their identity, and their ‘sera khela’ would be replaced by an even stronger IPL.

The failure in the AFC Challenge Cup narrates to us a never-ending tale of woes for Indian football. From Rob Baan to the youth development coaches, everybody is groping in the dark. Nobody, including the All India Football Federation (AIFF), has any clue how to rejuvenate the sport in India. Recently, even the AIFF President Praful Patel evinced his interest in including two new I-League clubs, who will be backed by corporates. Patel feels the decision will help raise the standard of the I-League significantly because the corporate-backed teams will invest heavily in infrastructure and thereby the game will be taken care of.

But I’m not so convinced, because the I-League already has a couple of top corporate-backed teams like Dempo, Salgaocar and ONGC among others who will never invest in football infrastructure.

While Patel acknowledged that infrastructure is also one of the main issues which has hit the game, the Federation officials over the years have only baffled us. Some four years ago, it was rumoured that AIFF bought land near Dwarka where they were planning to raise an exclusive football venue, but nothing has come out of that so far.

The recent decision to shift six I-League matches from Salt Lake Stadium to other venues due to the IPL opening ceremony is definitely not a good advertisement for the game.

Meanwhile, IMG’s presence has done little to raise the profile of the game. That’s been one of the grey areas as far as the game’s marketing is concerned in India. We need marketing gurus who can market the Indian game.

After having watched various Indian teams, first as a young follower in Calcutta (from 1981 to 1993) and then as a writer from 1994 till date and then as someone who has travelled throughout the country, I also seem to lose hope in our game. We don’t have a system which supports football.

We all understand that football in India is a big money-spinner. Even Patel said so in his recent meeting with the top corporate houses. But the AIFF president forgot one important aspect. He didn’t mention the ROIs. Why should the major corporates houses invest money in a game which has few takers?

From 2007 to 2012, Indian football has had some of its most memorable victories ever. Nehru Cup wins could have helped the Indian federation take the game to the next level. Remember Subrata Paul’s sequence of penalty saves in the 2009 final which appeared as leading news in all the national media? But due to the absence of a strong marketing team, the parent body completely failed to create a brand around these victories.

In fact, the broadcasting of images of the triumphant Indian teams taking a victory lap with the tri-colour in the packed Ambedkar Stadium was a great opportunity which the Federation could have simply lapped up, and then handed over the reins to an experienced marketing team. That didn’t happen and as a result we are back to square one.

As I said, football is a market-oriented game. TV, sponsors, spectators and media houses are those important stake-holders who need to be involved in a better way. Poor media coverage has created a wide gap between the I-League and clubs. Barring the Mohun Bagan-East Bengal derby and Shillong Lajong and Sikkim United’s matches in their home grounds, most other I-League fixtures draw a handful of spectators. ONGC, who play their home matches at Delhi’s Ambedkar Stadium, always have to endure the ‘pain and frustration’ of playing in front of empty stands. Still, it seems the AIFF don’t have a definite plan and strategy to market the game.

At 70, Hakim sahib is still a workaholic. Drop in any of these days at the Jamia Milia Islamia’s football ground, he would be seen managing a tournament commemorated in the memory of his father, who according to him, didn’t get recognition both from the federation and the government.

In its second year, SA Rahim Memorial Football Tournament is Hakim’s brainchild and supported by the Jamia University.

“Who remembers Rahim? Nobody,” he said.

“It’s not because I’m his son. It’s because he was India’s most successful coaches,” he explained his father’s record.

One of the finest referees in the 70′s and 80′s, Hakim had coached almost all the top clubs and the national team. But he holds a grudge against the federation who had almost forgotten the legendary coach.

“Has there been any tournament in his name?” he asked. Hakim sounds a bit outspoken and hits out at the system but he calms down. “What Rahim had given to Indian football not even our foreign coaches have achieved,” he added.

“You can ask his students PK (Banerjee), Chuni (Goswami) and Balaram about my father’s qualities.”

Rahim was born on August 17, 1909. He was the greatest player of Hyderabad from the 1920′s to the early forties. He also served as a national referee in Kolkata and other places in India and Sri Lanka, apart from refereeing in his home state.

“He produced more than one dozen FIFA referees and dozens of national referees,” said Hakim.

But Rahim became famous first with the legendary Hyderabad Police team and later with the Indian team, with whom he won the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games gold. Besides, who can forget India’s stupendous performance in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where they finished fourth.

He retired as the principal of a high school in Hyderabad, and had been associated with the game till his death on June 11, 1963.

“It’s a joke that you won’t even see his portrait in the federation office at Dwarka,” Hakim added.

We still don’t know why Rahim didn’t get recognition. Last year, former footballers from his state signed a letter to the then Sports Minister, Ajay Maken, to consider his name for the Padma awards. But nothing happened.

It was then Hakim decided to start a football event in his memory.

“After some years from now, I’m sure everybody will forget him,” he said.

Najeeb Jung, Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, inaugurated the tournament on February 25 at Jamia Sports Complex (Bhopal Ground).

Twenty-four teams from various colleges/universities are participating in this tournament, which according to Hakim, is a small tribute to his late father.

The tournament ends on March 14.

So, finally Mr Rob Baan has vented his frustration.

It wasn’t surprising to see him ridicule the Federation. It was supposed to happen at any moment. I can recall how often former India coach Bob Houghton used to lambast the Indian federation in front of international media after every defeat in the Asian Cup in Doha in 2011. The Englishman, who took up the Indian job in 2006, slowly realised that there was something wrong with the system. Later, the Englishman had to relinquish the post after a tiff with the Federation.

But Baan’s criticism convinced us that things haven’t changed after Houghton’s departure. There’s much which is terribly wrong with the AIFF. When Baan said there is no national team training centres and no budget, you have to believe the Dutchman. Because the veteran coach, who was introduced by AIFF two years back, was hailed as the next saviour after Houghton.

But he too has felt and realised that Indian football may not be moving in the right direction at all.

It takes a while before someone gets to know the weaknesses. In two years’ time, Baan has probably made the right comment about a system which is not going anywhere.

The hullabaloo of the visits of ‘FIFA delegates’ or ‘fitness trainers’ that are proudly highlighted, doesn’t mean that the game has been enriched in the country. The talk about being a ‘sleeping giant’ is an aberration.

We are still toddlers who need a clean environment to breathe. Only after then comes the question of learning. For that, we need a good school of thought and teachers who don’t cheat themselves just for the sake of making the grade.

Baan was apt when he mentioned about the age-fudging. But what surprised us was his ‘silence’ all these years. We all know how age-group competitions are manipulated from north to south and east to west. I myself have seen coaches ‘select’ over-aged players for their school teams. So, you can imagine the depth of corruption and cheating in Indian football.

Last year, during the AIFF U-14 Football Festival in Kalyani, the Delhi team had couple of good, young players who are well below U-13. When asked why he didn’t recommend at least one or two for the national camp, the spotter said there was ‘strict instruction to pick tall and tough’ boys.

Subroto Cup, though it’s not an AIFF-sponsored event, has always been hit hard with over-age issues for more than a decade now. Though the 69-year-old Baan is still hoping AIFF would adopt a zero-tolerance measure, he probably doesn’t know there is something called ‘vote-bank’ in Indian sports federations.

Now, let’s come to Baan’s scything remark on Sunil Chhetri. It’s too harsh a word for him to say that Chhetri is a big flop. He must know that Chhetri has come up all this way because of his parents.

Probably, Baan still isn’t aware that our champions are produced not by the federations but by our own families within their limited capacities. Chhetri’s rise to fame (whether he plays in second division or may not have played in England) is an inspiring story for million of Indian boys. Baan could have avoided calling Chhetri a ‘flop’.

The Dutchman, probably, doesn’t know the struggle behind his modest success. He may not know how many times he stayed in squalid rooms during the Santosh Trophy when he was a young player. Chhetri didn’t get the luxury of a European youngster. Neither he got special treatment from the Federation or state associations. Baan should know how often he was thrown into the unreserved compartments of a train with the Delhi team. Chhetri had absorbed all those initial pain just for the love of the game.

Today, he is a star and we’re proud of him. No matter how many times Baan calls him a ‘flop’ player, we know how much hard work his family has done to make him a footballer.

Mr Baan, please speak sense.

Young and fun loving, 15-year-old Praneet Purohit is your boy next door. But after his stint with an All-India team in Inter Milan during a month-long camp, Purohit has now become special in his locality. It was a rare honour for this Ghaziabad youngster to step on the famous stadium at San Siro in Milan last September, where he got access to unparalleled training programmes under some well known coaches.

A resident of Indirapuram in Ghaziabad, he became a footballer by choice.

In fact, football drew him close after he watched the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. He was just eight then.

First he started playing in school. Then he started kicking around in the park and wherever he found an open space. Later, for better professional training, he got himself enrolled at Young Stars Football Academy at Vaishali, which, according to him, has “shown him the right direction”.

“When I was in Class 3 in 2006 my school’s (Father Agnel in Noida) football coach trained me for a couple of months. After he left the school in 2007, we didn’t have a coach for a long time. It was then my father decided to put me in YSFA,” said Purohit.

“I used to play at the parks and in Noida Stadium but couldn’t found a place where I could get professional coaching and the right kind of guidance,” he explained.

“It was then when I met Yusuf sir in my school. He introduced me to YSFA in 2009 and since then I am a part of the academy where the coaches and administrators have encouraged me in a big way.”

There is one more interesting fact about Purohit. At just 14, he was selected to play for Delhi’s top club, City Football Club, in the 1st Division League last year along with other YSFA cadets who were U-17 players. Interestingly, City FC became 1st Division champions and got promoted to the Senior Division in April last year.

“It was one my biggest achievements so far. At this age, playing for a professional club was indeed something like an honour for me. It had boosted my confidence to a great extent,” said the youngster, who plays as a left-back.

Success followed soon after his stint with City FC. In a month-long all-India school competition held early this year, Purohit was selected by well-know past football greats, including 1960 Olympian Syed Shahid Hakeem, former East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting star striker Jamshed Nassiri, and Premnath Phillips.

“He has got bundle of energy and a keenness to learn. Particularly, playing at such a young age and among the seniors in the club itself is a big challenge. But he has picked up fast,” explained YSFA and former City Club coach Yusuf, who spotted Purohit four years back.

Also, when most parents would force their kids to avoid sports, Purohit was lucky. His parents were behind him and provided him the support he needed.

“They told me to play football but also explained me the importance of education. I think, I’ve balanced both the subjects well,” added Purohit.

A decade back, I had asked former Iranian footballer Jamshed Nassiri why he didn’t take up Indian citizenship. Nassiri, a former star player with East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting, couldn’t give me a convincing reply.

From the 80s till now, several top foreigners have played in different Indian clubs. Majid Bishkar, Nassiri’s teammate at East Bengal and Sporting and a former World Cupper with Iran, and probably the best foreigner to have played in India, also never thought about taking up Indian nationality even though the player was very fond of Calcutta.

Nigerian stalwart Chima Okorie, whose powerful strikes are still being discussed in the corridors of Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Sporting, married an Anglo-Indian but decided to hold his Nigerian passport.

In fact, there were so many good foreign players who had dazzled in Indian football, married Indians and settled here. But none of them could show their admiration for the Indian national team till Arata Izumi broke that tradition of ‘playing, earning and marrying’ Indians.

I first saw Izumi during the I-League in 2006 at Ambedkar Stadium. He came off as a substitute for East Bengal, who probably signed him to accommodate their ‘Asian quota’.

The decision to include Arata in the national squad for the upcoming friendly against Palestine throws up an interesting debate. Shouldn’t we encourage some of the good foreign footballers to take up Indian nationality? Since our Constitution doesn’t allow for double citizenship, many such players don’t even think of surrendering their own nationality.

In the late nineties, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was even considering introducing double citizenship. Had it been done, our Indian team would have been strengthened with the likes of Ramirez Barretto, Okorie, Bernard Oparanozie, Ranty Martins, Mike Okoro and many others who stayed back in this country.

Maybe Arata was a bit determined to play for India after having stayed in the country for seven years. The Japanese player of Indian origin had seen the difficult times. While playing for Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima FC in the J-League, Arata also doubled as a toso (a person who paints cars). He worked 10 hours a day with the car company and then spent two hours practising with the football team. He had a successful stint with the team where he scored scored seven goals in 24 games for the team.

Arata’s decision to accept Indian citizenship stems from the fact that he wanted to explore his career with the Indian team and not just restrict himself as a club player for Pune FC.

While some other foreign players are just too happy to spend their time in India as a ‘foreigner’ and also have their Indian wives supporting them, Arata is a bit different. He too married an Indian girl but also wanted to be recognised as an ‘Indian’ footballer.

And that’s why you have to be convinced about his love for India when he said that accepting the Indian citizenship was the biggest decision in his life.

We all know that the clubs or the national federation cannot force foreign players to become Indian citizens. But players who have stayed back in this country for two decades or more just for money and opportunity, should also have given a thought to the country where they made their second home for decades.

Former Nigerian star Okorie runs his own business from Calcutta after several failed attempts in club coaching. Nassiri, who came to India in 1979 as a student in Aligarh Muslim University, is happily settled in central Calcutta with his North-Eastern wife and two kids. The Iranian actively takes part in promoting football in the country and also once coached the Maharashtra team in the Santosh Trophy. Barretto is also known for his intense love of Calcutta and India.

Surprisingly, none of these former greats had ever evinced any interest in accepting this country as their own.

We sincerely hope that Arata’s historic decision will inspire other foreign footballers who are plying their trade in Indian football.

Palestine’s 39-year-old coach Jamal Mahmoud couldn’t just hold his excitement. Barring the scheduled break, Mahmoud randomly walked inside the technical area and then shouted instructions whenever a Palestine player went for the counter-attack in a friendly against Qatar in Doha last June.

There was nothing much at stake for the Palestines in that game, but I felt their energy.

When the strife-torn Arab nation, who are ranked 140 in FIFA rankings, play India on February 6, you can expect the same kind of vibrancy.

For them, getting to play a football match is something like a dream. The nation is in a political turmoil where no foreign teams visit them or they can’t travel because of the strict restrictions imposed by Israel.

Despite handicapped by the political ramifications, the Palestine football team is one of the strongest in the Middle-East region. The team consists of players of multiple nationalities and who speak different languages and, who also don’t have a home field.

The conflict means they play their home games in Doha.

Today, Palestine is fighting to overcome obstacles of a physical, emotional, cultural and geographic nature, only to exist. It’s a challenge which they live with it, without even imagining how much they are stretched physically and mentally while striving for an identity.

“Sport is all about peace and harmony. We want to play football without such obstacles,” said Mahmoud, who took over as coach in November 2011. His first official match was a friendly against Bahrain in Manama which Palestine won 1-0.

Many of the players learned to love football after they watched matches between Arabic teams, particularly Egyptian giants Al Ahly and Zamalek.

“We want our freedom and we would like to send a message across the world through the game,” he added.

In March last year, national player Mahmoud Al Sarsak, 25, was arrested and interrogated while he was leaving the Gaza strip to join his fellow team-mates in the West Bank. Al Sarsak was on a hunger strike since March 19 in protest against being held without charge on trial under the “unlawful combatant law” by the Israeli Prision Service.

Ramzi Saleh, Palestine’s 32-year-old captain, was born in neighbouring Egypt. Though he is far from the turmoil, the tall and strongly-built goalkeeper strongly feels the pain.

The inspirational captain has already played for 12 years and wants to lead his team at his home in Gaza. But, that seems unlikely since earning exit visas is always a real challenge for Palestine footballers.

“We’ve so many problems. Players can’t come from Gaza and West Bank because they are denied exit visas. That’s the reason we play less matches and can’t even invite foreign teams,” said Saleh, who plays for Smouha in Egyptian Premier League.

In May 2008, Palestine was not allowed to travel to the AFC Challenge Cup in India. Besides, after a 2011 World Cup qualifier against Thailand, Mohammed Samara and Majed Abusidu, were refused entry to the West Bank and therefore could not travel back with the team from Thailand.

“Football is our life. It’s our right to play in front of our own people. That’s why we want our freedom,” he added.

The identity crisis has made the players bold, and it is their unending fight for survival which makes them so endearing.

Palestinians just want to focus on the beautiful game and win hearts. They don’t enjoy the luxury of playing in proper grounds. The friendly against India will give them a lot of hope to highlight their issue at the international stage.

“In my first game, when we sang the national anthem, I could feel my body shiver,” Saleh said.

Sport is a great reveller. And football, in particular, has been a balm for the wounded and broken hearts of Palestine footballers who want to break away from a political barrier. They don’t understand the language of politics. But they definitely know how to convince the world about their passion for football.

A serious lack of positive outlook has hindered the progress of Mohammedan Sporting club, who are now begging the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to consider them for a place in the I-League.

I feel Sporting is too big an institution to actually ask for this kind of favour from the Federation, who, however, will consider performance as the only yardstick to include any teams in I-League and not the club’s rich history.

But after AIFF ‘considered’ Mohun Bagan’s appeal as a club ‘steeped in history’ and then replaced their ban with a monetary fine, Mohammedan Sporting club officials too went all out to garner support not only from East Bengal but also from Bagan so that they can find a short-cut route to the League.

While East Bengal has been coaxing the Federation officials, Sporting are also pressing hard for an entry in the elite League as they feel the club also has some historical significance just like Bagan and deserve to be treated equally.

Still, I fail to understand why Sporting officials want a wild-card entry when they don’t really deserve to be considered for the I-League.

The club officials claimed they were denied a place in the I-League last year due to poor refereeing in their crucial I-League qualification match against United Sikkim. But such reasoning won’t convince us now.

Another big issue for the club is lack of funds. Generating funds has been a big headache for Sporting. Offset by their poor performances in the domestic season and a general lack of interest, sponsors aren’t too keen to invest in them. Due to lack of financial support, the club management could recruit only those players who were rejected by Bagan and East Bengal. Now that Prayag United has replaced Sporting as the third force in Calcutta football, the century-old club face an uphill task to regain their lost image.

Like East Bengal and Bagan, Sporting is still one of the largest fan-based clubs, not only in India but across the border as well. I know one Sporting fan from Bangladesh, S Enam Murshed, who comes over all the way from Dhaka to watch the team in action in Calcutta. Such has been Sporting’s popularity.

A little bit of smart marketing would have done a world of good for the club, which was founded in 1891, just two years after Bagan came into existence.

Till the early 90s, the club was managed by passionate members and was funded by city’s top businessmen and even got donations from all quarters of India, including thespian Dilip Kumar. Also, how can we forget Irfan Taher Randerian’s contribution in the early 80s? Taher’s love for football and financial clout made Sporting one of the best teams between 1980-84. But when his business suffered losses, the club lacked monetary aid.

Besides, generous contributions from other city-based businessmen also stopped once the performance dipped. After Taher left, the club witnessed a reign of terror under Mir Mohammad Omar. He intimidated players (Chima Okorie slapping incident), officials and members which had a huge impact on the club’s future.

Today, it’s really difficult to reinvigorate and motivate them.

Bagan and East Bengal has survived because of their dedicated approach. Consistency, both on and off the field, is one of the reasons why Sporting has been docked. They will do well in one match but will come a cropper in the next. The team always seems to be suffering from a self-belief. Also, the players, unlike in other clubs, don’t get a good incentive. And, that’s not possible because Sporting don’t have a backing from any big sponsors.

Despite being a community-based club like Bagan and East Bengal, Sporting has completely failed to build a solid foundation. In 1940, Sporting became the first club to win the triple crown — the Calcutta League, Durand and Rovers Cup. The last time the team won the local League was in 1981. Their Federation Cup triumphs were in 1983 and 1984. But due to inept performances, the club faded into oblivion in the 90s.

The fans also lost hope and they quickly realised that their favourite club is no more a force to reckon with in Indian football.

Fans celebrate lifting of ban against Mohun Bagan

I still remember when former Indian cricketer Mohinder Amarnath earned the wrath from the officials for calling BCCI selectors a ‘bunch of jokers’ in 1989. Probably, he was the only cricketer then during that tumultuous time in Indian cricket who called a ‘spade a spade’.

Okolie Odafe – needs the right coach to reach his potential?

In 2011, Mohun Bagan invested heavily on Okolie Odafa. Less than two years later, the club bore the brunt of his ‘aggression’ during that ill-fated derby against East Bengal on December 9, 2012. According to the Match Commissioner report, the Nigerian striker allegedly pushed the referee Vishnu Chauhan before he flashed the red card to the Bagan skipper.

Even retired Supreme Court judge AK Ganguly, the one-man inquiry commission appointed by the AIFF to evaluate whether Bagan’s refusal to play, said in his report that “from the video recording it appeared that Odafa was very aggressively saying something to the referee.”

Odafa got even more aggressive and “was arguing with the referee in very threatening gesture and went very close to him with a raised finger”, Ganguly said in his report.

Well, we are talking about being discipline by a top player and who happens to be the captain of the national club of India.

When Nigerian David Williams turned out for East Bengal in 1979, clubs were wary about the volatile temperament because he originated from the ‘hottest continent’ on the earth. That was a belief, which soon turned into reality when the immensely talented but temperamental Chima Okorie strode into the limelight in 1985. Chima became an iconic player with Mohammedan Sporting, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. In fact, his success started the trend of Indian clubs importing big-bodied Africans. How can we forget his shoulder-shrugging indifference and open confrontation with referees? The Nigerian’s frayed nerves and intimidation are still being talked about.

It was only under the ‘fatherly’ coaches like Amal Dutta and PK Banerjee that Chima could be ‘tamed’ and he was transformed into one of the best foreign strikers to have played in India. His brute force and goal-poaching skills made him one of the most feared strikers in Indian football.

While Dutta and Banerjee successfully handled Chima with care, Bagan’s Moroccan coach Karim Bencharifa completely failed to control Odafa, who is also known to be arrogant and ‘volatile’.

Had Bencharifa explained the circumstances to him, the crowd trouble could have been averted. We just can’t blame the administration or club officials every time there is violence during a football match. A coach should also be held responsible for being unable to control his players. Bencharifa hails from Morocco, a country which has played in the FIFA World Cup. As a coach, he should have known that it was a grim offence to take off his team from the match. Isn’t it fair to punish Bencharifa as well if we study the circumstances which led to the dispute?

At the world stage, Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini is struggling to control the eccentric genius called Mario Balotelli. But the 21-year-old striker was pampered like a kid by the Italian manager Cesare Prandelli in the Euro 2012. His double-strike against Germany showed his super talent besides making us believe that such temperamental players can be handled with care.

Trailing by a goal against their traditional rivals, I strongly feel that the 44-year-old Moroccan lacked self-belief on that day – something that was reflected in Odafa’s misconduct with the referee. But he should have been more careful with his players’ conduct in a tension-ridden derby since he has already coached the club in 2008-10.

The AIFF may call Odafa for a hearing at a meeting of the I-League Disciplinary Committee. The Nigerian will be asked to explain why further action shouldn’t be taken against him after he was shown the red card in the abandoned match. The normal punishment for a red card is a one-match ban but given the circumstances leading Odafa’s expulsion, the parent body could impose a harsher penalty on the footballer. And AIFF’s decision would be justified.

Before recruiting footballers, the management must hold a session with the players and make them understand the values and history of their clubs. I don’t think such practice is common with Indian clubs.

Bagan is a historical club which has a huge fan-base across India and among the Indian diaspora in the world. But I’ve never seen the club host any interactive sessions with the players where they are told about the importance of the green and maroon brigade.

But then, Bagan is not Manchester United and Bencharifa is no Alex Ferguson!

The ban on the club has hit the players. The boat has been rocked and Syed Rahim Nabi and company are struggling to find their feet. Even national team coach Wim Koevermans has expressed his dissatisfaction that India players in Bagan will miss a lot of games due to this ban. All these players will have to wait till next season before they could sign for any clubs, and that’s something which is bothering the Dutch coach.

There is another rumour which is being whispered in every nook and cranny of the Indian football fraternity. Most football lovers, and I bet they are not only Bagan fans, have a strong feeling that the AIFF was vindictive when they handed out the punishment to the century-old club on December 29, 2012.

AIFF is taking pleasure in saying that they have become professional by banning Bagan for two years. But most people aren’t aware that both Subroto Dutta (AIFF vice-president) and I-League CEO Sunando Dhar do not get along with the Bagan secretary Anjan Mitra and and club’s finance secretary, Debashish Dutta. Also, there are some officials inside the Football House who are anti-Bagan or, should I say, die-hard East Bengal fans.

Another federation official (he is a die-hard East Bengal fan) recently gloated during ONGC vs Sikkim United match in Delhi about AIFF’s ‘historic’ decision to ban the Calcutta club. He was even giving ‘technical advice’ about the loan of Bagan players for the January window. Now the question is, if the Federation was so concerned about Nabi and his Bagan teammates, then why did they suspend the club? They could have put a hefty fine on Bagan and those officials who took the team off from the field against East Bengal on December 9. Isn’t it true that some anti-Bagan officials in the Football House are sorting their personal differences with the green and maroon club?

There are very few quality and fan-based clubs exists in India today. Barring Bagan, East Bengal is the only other club which enjoys a huge support base in the country. Rest of the I-League teams are either new or corporate teams.

In such a scenario, I-League, which is being played in empty stadiums around the country, will be hit hard. The East Bengal-Bagan derbies were the only attractions of the League. By throwing out the Mariners from the competition for two years, the Federation has not only killed the game but only put a full stop on the game’s progress in the country.

Bagan, founded in 1889, won’t shut down and will slowly overcome this difficult phase. But I shudder to imagine what would have happened to a smaller club if they faced a similar ban.

Even Juventus, for their role in the infamous ‘Calciopoli’ scandal in 2006, was allowed to play, but in the Serie B. The Italian authorities sent out a strong message to other clubs and set an example for the future. But they kept in mind the interest of football and the fans by not putting a ban on the Italian club from playing the game.

All of us know how AIFF is being managed. In my previous columns, I had mentioned that introducing foreign coaches to Indian football cannot be the only solution to improve the system.

Let me give you a small example.

You may not have heard of one Mohammad Shamsuddin. But this gentleman received a ‘promotion’ to the AIFF Executive Committee at the last AGM. He has been the all-powerful Uttar Pradesh Football Sangh secretary for years and is known as Babubhai. Based in Varanasi, he is a meat exporter who has nothing to do with the game!

Need we say more about the people who run the game in our country?

Football, as we know, is being destroyed in India, courtesy the AIFF.

Unless good sense prevails, another great club may well be on the decline.

Michael Nobbs on Nithin Thimmaiah – “He is a big player, (who) moves well and plays very fast.”

Doha: If Indian hockey team’s coach Michael Nobbs is to be believed, then the game’s development in the country is firm on its track. The team’s 2-1 win against Pakistan on Monday evening showed that India’s new-look young team is prepared for bigger challenges ahead. And the Aussie has full faith in his youth team after he dropped seniors following the disastrous result in the London Olympics in July.

“The junior team finished second in Sultan of Johor Cup last month while the senior team finished creditable fourth in Champions Trophy. All these performances show that the development work is underway. Some of the junior players have been with us for the last one year. Everything that we are (as a team now), involves a lot of hard work and time. And it’s getting there,” said the 58-year-old coach here.

In the ongoing 2nd Asian Champions Trophy here, India have won all their four matches, including an encouraging 2-1 win against Pakistan on Monday, which is sure to boost their morale. A day before their win over their traditional rivals, India drubbed minnows Oman 11-0 with four goals coming from the Penalty Corners. Dharamvir Singh (7th & 57th), Raghunath Vokkaliga (29th & 38th) and Rupinder Pal Singh (31st & 43rd) scored a brace each while Sunil Somwarpret (3rd min), Chandi Singh (44th), Akashdeep Singh (52nd), Harbir Singh (64th) and Danish Mujtaba (66th) were the other scorers.

A win or loss doesn’t matter for Nobbs as long as his young team gets relevant exposure.

“It was an excellent effort by a young team. The young players showed their determination to play hockey for India,” said Nobbs.

“The team is improving. The main objective is to make a good base for Indian hockey. Most of these are doing well here. Nithin (Timamaiah) is playing very well. He is a big player, (who) moves well and plays very fast. Akashdeep is struggling at the moment. He has got to learn a bit quickly. Though he is working hard, some of things are not coming off,” he explained.

About Pradhan Pudiyokkada, Nobbs said that he too is showing improvement.

“This is his first international event. He is still finding his way here. It’s not like playing domestic tournaments in India. International events are completely different. But (with) every single game he is getting better.”

With India almost assured of a place in the final, which will be held on Thursday, Nobbs felt that a win or loss doesn’t matter for him as long as his young team gets relevant exposure.

“We’ve not come here to make up the numbers. Young kids are improving all the time. We are giving them the chances too. That’s the most important thing,” he concluded.

A month before the Sydney Olympics in 2000, I told my editor in The Indian Express about the idea to compile profiles of India’s fascinating experience in the Olympic Games through the living legends of Indian sports. He agreed and gave me a green signal. I was off to Calcutta, my hometown, on a whirlwind tour of a city where you would easily find the ‘Who’s Who of Indian Olympians’.

The first name which came to my mind was Sir Leslie Claudius because of his staggering record in the Games – three gold and one silver medals. Upon reaching Calcutta, I called him in the morning on his landline (mobile phones were not so common and he didn’t had one).

“Hello, my son.” The voice of Indian hockey’s famous legend still rings in my ear.

We decided that we’ll meet at the Customs Tent House in Maidan. Mr Claudius played for Customs in the domestic Calcutta Hockey Leauge and in the Beighton Cup. Every evening, the legend used to drop in there for some chit-chat and cards.

Mr Claudius was very sober and punctual. The time was fixed at 5 PM. But I reached 30 minutes before the schedule and waited just opposite the Customs Club, which is stones throwaway from the East Bengal Club.

He was there, right on time on his scooter.

We had a long chat on everything from Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh, death of his younger son Robert, who died in a car accident in 1979, to his silver in Rome in 1960 which he said was the saddest moment in his life. “I never thought India will win a silver under my captaincy. I was so unlucky. I can’t explain you the pain when we lost to Pakistan in the final,” he had told me.

Though India regained the gold from Pakistan in Tokyo four years later, Mr Claudius had already retired from the game a year before the Games.

While he played cards, Mr Claudius sipped nimbu chai, served by one of the very old staffs at the club. They and his colleagues at the club used to address him as ‘saheb’ because he was an Anglo-Indian. But he spoke in Bengali and Hindi and mingled with them like one of those retired, senior citizens of the country who wanted to kill their evening time in addas and cards. He was a giant among the lesser mortals. But Sir Claudius never gave an impression to his much younger friends about him being a legend.

At times, his pranks and jokes made me believe that he was indeed a man who had a big heart. He never made anyone feel that he was not an ordinary man; a sportsman who had won three Olympic golds!

I remember him telling me that had it not been for football, he wouldn’t have become a hockey player. He started off as a footballer with the then Bengal Nagpur Railways (BNR) in Bilaspur where he was born. He had played alongside India’s football Olympian, Sahu Mewalal, who also was from Bilaspur till they shifted to Calcutta.

“Hockey was never my passion. I just slipped into the local team as a makeshift player. Football has always been my favourite game. But I guess destiny had written something else for me,” he said.

“Sahu was a great footballer. We played so many matches together. It was one my most memorable experiences, having played together with such a marvellous footballer.”

He never drifted away from that over our two-hour conversation. He flipped the cards and sipped chai and then would again nod his head and look into my face with a smile.

“My son, this is my life now. I spend the evening here at the Customs Tent. It’s my second home. If I don’t come here, I feel there’s something which I’ve missed,” he told me.

That lovely evening with the legend at the club will forever be etched in my memory.

Mr Claudius will be missed.

Mehra, who won a landmark PIL case against BCCI four years back, is back again. This time, the Delhi High Court lawyer has fired a salvo against the All India Football Federation (AIFF), who will have their ‘elections’ on Thursday.

In his writ filed in the Delhi High Court, Mehra stated that the election has directly violated the Indian government’s Sport Code.

I’m sure that in our democratic set-up, all of us would appreciate Mehra’s effort since we’re aware that most federations don’t follow gospels of truth. Mehra has also stated that the court must stop the election of the President because it violated the Code which says that only one proposer and one seconder is needed to file candidature for the President post in any national sports federation election.

The AIFF constitution, however, makes it mandatory to have at least five proposers to contest for the top post!

It must also be mentioned here that the Sports Ministry had already withdrawn the recognition of archery association and boxing federation for violating the sports code.

I’ve seen and been present in at least three AGMs of the football federation and let me tell you, most posts in AIFF aren’t ‘contested’; rather they are ‘adjusted’. Everyone is running a fiefdom within the federations and sports associations. Surprisingly, unlike in any other federations, AIFF is an intelligently-managed body. You won’t get to see any factions which will be associated with others, even within the high-profile BCCI. But in AIFF, members and vice-presidents are ‘kept’ happy. Last week, three new vice-presidents were inducted into AIFF — Srinivas Dempo from west zone, Congress leader Subhash Chopra (north zone) and Shillong Lajong owner Larsing Ming Sawyn (north-east). We still don’t know why Chopra, who never had time for Delhi football (he is the DSA president in his second term), was included.

Lawyer Mehra is like all of us who think that sports bodies aren’t run democratically and honestly. But we couldn’t have taken on the federations who are represented by top politicians and businessmen. For Mehra, it’s possible to launch a fierce attack on AIFF because he is a lawyer. People outside will find it hard to fight because you need resources and money to hire lawyers.

None of our Indian federations are clean. That’s a fact. The recent suspension of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) by International Olympic Committee (IOC) for excessive government influence was appreciated by the sports lovers.

Two years back, some of the recruitments done by the former AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco raised eyebrows. Colaco recruited Dempo coach Armando Colaco’s daughter as the national team’s co-ordinator. The post wasn’t advertised on the federation’s website.

Like all of us, Mehra too wants ‘clarity’ in the federation work. He wants the right people to run the sport effectively. Besides, the reputed lawyer wants officials to be elected for specific durations and not long, random tenures that are the norm in India.

In another decision, the former AIFF secretary had proposed two names — BMR Mehta and Anil Kamat — as the new joint secretaries of AIFF. Mehta joined the federation in 2005 as Press Officer who however was not in sync with Indian football,  while Kamat has been always close to Colaco as they both hail from Goa.

Mehra once said, “We don’t have the right people running the sport,” and that’s so true in the current situation.

AIFF has stated that their election is held according to the Code. But we trust Mehra because his PIL doesn’t aim for cheap headlines and the lawyer wants to cleanse the sport with a sincere approach.

Barely a week later, East Bengal also showed that they too weren’t very good at controlling their players’ anger. Frustrated after their first defeat in the I-League, when they lost 0-1 to Prayag United, the red and gold brigade’s Nigerian defender Uga Okpara simply lost his cool. Also to join in the brawl was his countrymate, Bello Rassaq in the Prayag team.

Nigerian players in the past have been known to be hot-headed and a bit unruly. Chima Okorie in his initial days, when he strode into the limelight as a young and brash striker in the mid-80s, was also a temperamental player. He calmed down much later when he grew in experience. African players have always this habit of getting involved in some controversy or the other.

The photographs of the incident which have been published in the Calcutta media too speaks a lot about the seriousness of the brawl. From the pictures, one can see Ranti Martins (who scored the match-winner) and East Bengal’s Alvito D’Cunha attempting to calm down Okpara, and restrain him from throwing his fist at Rassaq, who got a minor injury on his upper lip.

Isn’t it the All India Football Federation (AIFF) been a little soft on such cases? All the I-League committee can do is to wait for the match commissioner’s report.

Are we deliberately turning our football pitches into a battle place for some short-tempered players to sort out their personal grudge and tiffs?

I’m not sure when the Calcutta clubs will learn. The live telecasts of world’s top leagues and championships are good enough to educate our egoistic clubs and their players who don’t really care about the club they are representing.

From my experience, I’ve not seen any foreign players who played in Calcutta who resorted to such fights with their co-players or against their opponents. Iranian legend Majid Bishkar was a thorough gentleman, whose camaraderie was always appreciated. The case was similar for his compatriot Jamshed Nasirri. Even the recently retired Mohun Bagan striker Jose Ramirez Barreto never got involved into such stupid scuffles, even with his fellow players. Barreto has been the best disciplined player to have played for a Calcutta club in recent years.

It won’t be surprising to see both Prayag and East Bengal defend their respective players. However, what’s happening in Calcutta doesn’t augur well for the clubs.

Having already earned negative comments from around the globe after they refused to play the second half of the I-League derby against East Bengal, Bagan, instead of respecting the I-League, moved to the courtroom soon after the AIFF made it clear that the Mariners would be banned for two years.

Last week, I wrote that if club move to court, the game would get entangled into protracted legal battles, and that’s exactly what has happened.

Bagan took legal recourse and put its case to the City Civil Court in Calcutta, which passed an interim order restraining AIFF from taking any decision without hearing the club.

As expected, the national federation also took a step towards a legal battle with one of Asia’s oldest clubs when they appointed former Supreme Court judge AK Ganguly to evaluate all aspects of the abandoned match in accordance with I-League regulations 2012-13.

Bagan, East Bengal and Prayag are considered to be the best teams from India’s football capital. But their egoistic officials have almost damaged Calcutta’s reputation as a sober and sporting city.

Some Bagan fans even posted comments in favour of ‘Prayag’ on Facebook during the East Bengal-Prayag match on Sunday. I’m sure East Bengal’s defeat gave them some sort of consolation.

I wouldn’t say they are passionate. They may love their teams, but they’ve taken their fanaticism to a hysterical level, which only foments trouble and is unacceptable. Instead of taking stern disciplinary actions against their erring, indisciplined players, Prayag and East Bengal’s soft approach has further tarnished Calcutta’s football image.

This is what makes it so embarrassing for the city.

Bengal’s regional media is divided into two separate class — ghoti and bangaals. English newspapers are a shade better as they refrain from taking a side of either of these two top clubs.

The crowd problem during Bagan-East Bengal matches is an age-old problem which has always been overlooked by the Indian Football Association (IFA), AIFF and the security agencies.

I’ve never written on a Mohun Bagan-East Bengal match based on emotions. Though my roots allow me to twist comments in favour of the Mariners, I had never done that in my career as a football writer. I call such efforts unethical.

After last Sunday’s I-League match was called off, Bagan fans have been defending themselves and blamed the security lapse while East Bengal are throwing scornful looks at their city rivals. The ‘fight’ between the two traditional teams won’t end quickly as AIFF is readying itself to punish the erring club.

But I’m saddened with one thought. Has anybody cared about Syed Rahim Nabi, whose broken jaw has put him out of action for six weeks? Nabi had been East Bengal’s favourite player for seven seasons before he changed his club last year. Does that make him more vulnerable to the attack? We must not forget that the stone which hit him, was from the stands which had lot of Bagan fans who were protesting against the red card to Odafa Okolie.

As a 10-year-old, I had read about the gruesome incident at Eden Gardens when 16 football fans died. I still have some of those old magazines with me. A cursory glance into the pictures of that ill-fated day will create fear in our minds. Those who breathed their last were football fans and we shouldn’t categorise them as East Bengal or Bagan supporters.

After the incident on Sunday, some ‘literate’ Bagan and East Bengal fans on the social networking sites have been busy in the mud slinging but nobody is talking about Nabi’s injury. In one post, a Bagan ‘staff’ allegedly called the I-League CEO as East Bengal’s ‘dalal’ (broker). More than the behaviour of the rowdy fans of both these clubs, it’s the ‘irresponsible’ comments by some of their officials which shock us.

Calcutta is one of the proposed venues for the FIFA U-17 World Cup which India is bidding to host in 2017. The crowd interference and Bagan’s refusal to play the second half, which was widely reported in the international media, were definitely not a good advertisement for Indian football.