In April 2019, as part of its preparations for the Asian under-16 championship this year, the Indian under-15 football team visited Italy for an “exposure tour.” In a press release, the All India Football Federation stated that its squad for matches against the United States, Mexico and Slovenia included players “born on or after January, 1 2004”—the cut-off date for the Asian championship. The team against Slovenia was captained by Eric Lalsangzuala, whose date of birth, according to the AIFF’s central registration system, is 15 June 2002, making him almost eighteen months too old. Lalsangzuala’s CRS entry had been approved by the AIFF on 20 November 2018, and could be readily accessed by AIFF officials, clubs, agents and scouts. His birth certificate was registered on 16 June 2002, confirming his overage status. This glaring oversight by the AIFF demonstrated its negligence towards the issue of age fraud, which continues to damage Indian football.
Exposure tours are a poor use of the substantial investment in Indian football over the past few years. Before the 2017 Under-17 World Cup, which India hosted, the AIFF spent crores of rupees on organising 17 such trips for the national team. This is a short-sighted strategy. Instead of investing in improving the state of the domestic game and laying the foundations for an organic pipeline of, say, ten thousand youth footballers, the AIFF chooses to chance its luck on a small group of players. It justifies this approach by focussing on isolated results, often inflating the significance of the results for greater publicity.
この記事は The Caravan の April 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The Caravan の April 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Mob Mentality
How the Modi government fuels a dangerous vigilantism
RIP TIDES
Shahidul Alam’s exploration of Bangladeshi photography and activism
Trickle-down Effect
Nepal–India tensions have advanced from the diplomatic level to the public sphere
Editor's Pick
ON 23 SEPTEMBER 1950, the diplomat Ralph Bunche, seen here addressing the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The first black Nobel laureate, Bunche was awarded the prize for his efforts in ending the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Shades of The Grey
A Pune bakery rejects the rigid binaries of everyday life / Gender
Scorched Hearths
A photographer-nurse recalls the Delhi violence
Licence to Kill
A photojournalist’s account of documenting the Delhi violence
CRIME AND PREJUDICE
The BJP and Delhi Police’s hand in the Delhi violence
Bled Dry
How India exploits health workers
The Bookshelf: The Man Who Learnt To Fly But Could Not Land
This 2013 novel, newly translated, follows the trajectory of its protagonist, KTN Kottoor.