It's Time To Batten Down The Hatches

The current generation of youngsters has an unbelievable appetite to consume football. And the interest to play the game among those in their early teens has never been this high. In fact, in the AFC Under-16 Championship recently, the Indian team gave a rather good account of itself and showed what even a half-decent structure can help achieve. FLASH-IN-THE-PLAN glamour does give a head start, but what follows that will shape the future and it’s high time India realises this,

- N. Sudarshan

During the inaugural season of the Indian Super League (ISL), Sachin Tendulkar, the legendary cricketer, was interviewed by The Blizzard, the renowned football quarterly, about his interest in football, and why he had invested in the ISL franchise, Kerala Blasters.

“The whole idea is to reach world-class standards, and help Indian football players get that exposure of rubbing shoulders with international stars,” he said. “What I thought cricket did with the IPL was that it allowed players, especially the younger lot, to spend time together with foreign players. You can only learn from such experienced names, and that is what the ISL is doing for Indian football. I think, in time to come, the standard of ISL play will get better. In the process, so will Indian football.”

This by no means is new thinking. Current football superpowers in the Asia-Oceania region had also thought on similar lines when they embarked on their own efforts to put in place systems. In Japan, in the early 1990s, football was still a minor sport compared to baseball or sumo wrestling. The country established the J. League, the first-ever professional football division, in 1993. Ageing stars like the Brazilian legend Zico, the German World Cup winner Pierre Littbarski, Englishman Gary Lineker among others were the biggest draws.

IT’S A SIMILAR STORY with the Australian A-League too. It was founded in 2004, and its prominent stars at the start were the likes of Dwight Yorke, the former Manchester United striker. Now, China is bidding to shed its unglamorous football past by roping in stars such as Ramires, the Brazilian mid-fielder, who is still 29 and not quite the ageing star one would generally associate with such leagues.