There is no
doubt that India is a cricket crazy country! This doesn’t mean that there is no
scope for other games and football in particular. Football in India has a huge following,
given the fact that English Premier League has an annual average of around 64 million
viewers in India.. Success they say has many relations, failure has none. Today
with the success of cricket ‘Team India’ and thanks to BCCI’s marketing
ability, one can see youngsters playing cricket in the paddy fields in Goa where
once only football thrived.
One cannot deny
the fact that the youth is our future. And if there is lack of interest at the grassroots,
our standard will remain stagnant, as has been the case for the past several
years. What is the grassroots scene in India? Take the case of Goan football. Compared
to other states Goa’s youth development programme is fine. At the senior level,
Goa is undoubtedly the numero uno in the game of football having won the last seven
I League titles. But Goa has not performed satisfactorily in the age group competitions
which clearly show that all is not well at the grassroots. The question often
asked is - After Bruno Coutinho, who is next? We don’t have answers. Not many
of our Goan youngsters are graduating from the junior ranks to the I League
teams. Instead of supplying players to the other states, we have a huge infux
of outstation players in Goa. This is an area of concern as we are not
producing quality players and this has to be addressed now not only in Goa but
all over India before it’s too late.
In this context,
the initial intention echoed by two of the top coaches in the I League is very
heartening and encouraging. Both, Australian coach Arthur Papas of Dempo SC and
Dutch Mike Snoei of Pune FC have stated that their main focus will be on the
youth and fortunately for them, their respective clubs are supporting them to
the hilt. Dempo SC has a stake in Danish club FC Midtjylland. They
are planning to have an academy in Goa with technical inputs from the Danish collaborators.
Arthur Papas is also known to have worked wonders with Pailan Arrows and youth
development will definitely be a priority at Dempo SC. Pune Fc has been going from strength to strength in
the last couple of years. The second rank in the I league 2013 is commendable
and their academy has done quite well with last two under- 20 titles under
their belt. Coach Mike Snoei is under no pressure to give immediate results but
has the task of overseeing the transition of players from the academy to the
senior team. And when you know that the chief coaches of the clubs are paying
more than a passing attention to the youth, it is a win - win situation for all
the stake holders.
It normally takes around a decade to bring in the change,
the way football is played. Germany is a fine example for us to emulate.
Germany reinvented itself within a decade. When they realized that their
football has stagnated, drastic steps were taken in 1999 with massive
investment in youth development. They opened up 121 coaching centres all over
Germany for the age group of 10 to 17 and directed 36 professional clubs of
Budesliga & Bundesliga 2 to open up academies. By 2010 FIFA World Cup,
players like Mesut Ozil, Thomas Mulluer and others took centre stage. The final of the Champion League, 2013 played
between two German clubs is surely a proof of their youth development
philosophy.
More academies for youth development is the only way
forward for Indian football.
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