Has the sports ministry approved funding the trip of an Indian Super League(ISL) club for friendlies in Brunei later this month?
TOI has learnt that the travel expenses of ISL franchise, FC Goa - currently roughly valued at Rs 75 crore - is to be borne by the tax payer. A second-rung FC Goa team will represent India in two friendlies against DPMM FC, the club owned by Brunei's crown prince, at Brunei's Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium on November 24 and 25. This is the first in a series of trips which both governments have agreed to undertake in the future too.
What's more interesting is that the ministry sanctioned FC Goa's trip on the recommendation of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), which were responsible for picking a team for the two-day event in the first place.
While the entire episode highlights the ministry's ignorance in such matters, it is the attitude of the AIFF that beggars belief. In a time when any trip abroad can be counted as exposure for our footballers, the federation chose a club from a private tournament and not the I-League. Furthermore, with the ISL beginning from Nov 19, and FC Goa scheduled to play their second match on November 25 (away against Mumbai City FC), it can be safely assumed that the ISL franchise would be flying down a second rung team to Brunei. "The ministry could have entrusted the SAI to hold a selection trial among the SAI Training Centres (STC) trainees to form a senior age-group team. AIFF too, could have also formed a strong team of its own, selecting the boys from its regional academies. The Brunei government had requested an Indian team to be sent for friendlies, which doesn't necessarily mean FC Goa or any other club. And, if the selection has been done, then why is the ministry spending on the trip of a private club?" an official said.
When AIFF general secretary Kushal Das was contacted for his reaction, he put the onus on the ministry to approve or reject a team. "It wasn't entirely our decision. The government could have sent any of the team of its choice. We told them FC Goa is interested in going, so the government agreed. When the ministry approached us, we talked to several clubs. None of them was interested, except FC Goa. So, we sent their name. We have nothing more to do with it," he added, without explaining why a team from under the AIFF's wing was not considered.
It all started after the Brunei High Commissioner to India wrote to the ministry to send a football team to play an exhibition match with DPMM FC.
"It's been informed that the visit of the Indian football team would be as part of the MoU between the two countries. The accommodation, all meals and transportation would be borne by Brunei side, the Indian side is to bear the travelling expense. Therefore, the matter was taken up by AIFF for sending a football team to Brunei. AIFF has informed that since a club team of Brunei is playing, the AIFF will be able to send a club team from FC Goa. The AIFF has suggested a team of 23 players and five officials of FC Goa," ministry under-secretary A K Patro wrote to SAI, in effect sanctioning the trip and travel expenses.
When Amir Rehman, 23, told his family that his football team was going abroad, they thought it was a joke and laughed. Amir’s father Abdul Rehman Dar, a shawl-embroider in Srinagar, could not believe that his son and his team — including an engineer, a delivery boy, a car dealer and a factory worker — were on to anything serious. He knew about Real Kashmir, and that they were part of the I-League Division II, but travelling to Scotland for off-season training sounded unreal. Four months after that trip, Amir and Real Kashmir were in the national capital last weekend, to play friendly matches against some of the city’s top clubs, Delhi United and ISL’s Delhi Dynamos.
Real Kashmir went down in both the games but Amir is unfazed. At least, he says, his father now takes the team seriously. And so does Real Kashmir’s coach, former Scottish international David Robertson. “We are looking really long term. We want to win the second division first so we can qualify for the main I-League,” Robertson told The Indian Express.
If that does happen, it will be a big leap for a team with modest means, started in March last year by Shameem Meraj, owner of the Kashmir Monitor newspaper, and mostly run through donations from businessmen and supporters in Srinagar.
In September, the club got an unexpected shot in the arm when Robertson posted a photo on Twitter of his team training, with Kashmir’s breathtaking scenery in the background. The image caught the attention of former Ghana international Anthony Obodai, a one-time U-17 World Cupper who has played alongside stars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wesley Sneijder at Ajax FC.
“David told me about the side and I said ‘if you want my help to build the side, I will come’,” Obodai posted on Facebook.
In Srinagar, defender Amir’s day begins with a practice session at the TRC ground, where slots have to be booked in advance. After training, the 22-year-old fan of Manchester United star Paul Pogba cycles around the city, delivering medicines to local chemists.
“I don’t like it at all. But football alone cannot provide for my family of three. It’s not fun, cycling for kilometres every day through the city. I get so tired at the end of the day but I make sure I reach the ground the next day. I feel rejuvenated,” says Amir.
Amir’s teammate Ishfaq Wani, whose father works as an ATM guard, does not have a day job and relies solely on the salary the club pays him — Rs 10,000 every month. “There are hardly any jobs and I have always been passionate about football. It was my dream to become a professional footballer… When I began playing, as a child with borrowed shows, I could not even afford a bus ride from my home to the stadium. I walked almost 8 km a day to play,” says Ishfaq.
His father was reluctant to let him play, but underwent a change of heart after seeing his son’s commitment. Now, he keenly follows the J&K league matches where Real Kashmir finished second this season.
When midfielder Mir Hanan, one the first footballers from Kashmir to play abroad, returned after a year’s stint with Brazil’s Friburguense Atlético Clube during an exchange programme six years ago, he realised the game could not support him financially. He enrolled for engineering in Bengaluru where he played for the college team. His degree earned him a temporary job in Kashmir but he had to quit last year due to the unrest. “I am still looking for a job,” he says.
It’s not just Mir’s job, the unrest in the Valley after the death of militant Burhan Wani last year brought life to a standstill in Srinagar, halting all sporting activity. “We are used to it now. We can’t do much. We have grown up witnessing such unrest. Six months we are playing, six months we are home,” says Mir, rated as one of the side’s top players.
Then there’s Sameer Khan, a car dealer who plays as a defender, and goalkeeper Safiz Riyaz who works at his family-run leather workshop.
With I-League qualification being the first goal to bring the club into the mainstream, Real Kashmir is slowly building momentum. The club has a managed to build U-19, U-17 and U-14 teams, which are provided free training. More exposure trips are being planned; an assistant coach will be hired soon; a Srinagar milk plant recently came on board as sponsor; and, talks are on with a London-based firm for more sponsorship.
The rise, the fall and the road ahead for India’s own La Masia – Tata Football Academy
TFA has produced 130 India internationals, but in recent years, there has been a decline. Can the ISL bring them back in the reckoning?
In many ways, things would come full circle for custodian Subrata Paul if he is selected to play for Jamshedpur FC in their first Indian Super League game on November 18 against NorthEast United.
A full circle because seventeen years ago, the man picked to guard the citadel of the club, waited outside the gates of the very complex they will call home for over two nights just so that he could get a trial at the Tata Football Academy.
“I still remember the day when Subrata first came for trials at TFA, actually they were already over and he spent two nights in front of our main gate. He refused to leave until we gave him a trial... Later I realised that TFA was his only chance as there was no alternative in life, no chance to return home,” the academy’s long-time coach Ranjan Chowdhury had said a few years ago.
Since its inception in 1987, Tata Football Academy has produced more international footballers for India than any other centre and it was understandable why Paul was willing to weather all conditions just to get a look in. At last count, 130 trainees represented the national team at various level from the 11 batches that have been inducted so far.
The setup has two programmes, the juniors or the under-15s and the seniors, also classified as under-19s. With the players closely monitored over a four-year period, and being provided solid exposure, at the junior nationals and a trip overseas as a part of an exchange programme.
India veteran Renedy Singh, one of TFA’s finest products, was full of praise for the academy’s strength-in-depth in the 1990s and Chowdhury’s talent-spotting skills, “Ranjan sir selected me when I was a 11-year-old. That was the only academy in India then. Russi Modi [Former chairman of Tata Steel] and Aditya Kashyap [Modi’s associate and a doyen of Indian football] got Sao Paulo and PSV Eindhoven to India, which is unimaginable now,” Renedy told The Field.
More than a quarter of a century before the start of the lucrative Indian Super League, Super Soccer Series, a brainchild of Kashyap, was a major draw with Indian football fans. Top clubs from Germany, Brazil, Germany and Holland fielded their junior teams in India.
TFA’s rapid rise meant that they could take on some of the best in the business at their own game. What was it that was working for the team? “The training, what we eat...everything – those days, we were the best. Would you believe that we beat Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting,” Renedy added, illustrating how big a force TFA had turned into by the mid-to-late 1990s.
With nearly a half-a-dozen players from the academy walking into the India starting XI, the telepathic understanding between the TFA players resulted in success on the field. “There were lot of ups and downs there but we formed a strong bond, and we still remember it fondly till date,” senior India defender Gourmangi Singh said.
The 31-year-old defender was a product of the sixth batch of the academy, graduating in 2004. Subrata, Subashish Roy Choudhary and Debabrata Roy were his teammates then. Gourmangi, a winner of international 69 caps, also waxed lyrical about his alma mater, “I remain indebted to the the academy. I can’t explain it in words. I was a schoolboy in Manipur when my journey started. I had the most important four years of my life there, They [TFA] were the pioneers.
“As teenagers, we don’t have experience about many things in life. At TFA, we learnt so many things. The training sessions we had were the best at the time.” It was Gourmangi’s displays in the youth nationals that helped him rise to prominence.
The alarming lack of numbers
In recent years, though, the TFA no longer seems to have an endless supply of young talent, which was the case in the 1990s and 2000s. Between 1992 and 2010, there were atleast 12 players who earned international caps from each batch. There were only six from the class of 2012 and quite incredibly, just three from the lot who completed their course in 2014.
Some have criticised their policy of inducting only teenagers in their setup instead of grooming kids in their pre-teens, which is the case with most big clubs in Europe.
Any youth player worth his salt would tell you that he craves for competitive football. However, TFA, despite winning the National Football League second division in 2005, opted against rising through the ranks. Even Barcelona B and Real Madrid Castilla play in the Spanish Segunda division.
Akshay Das, East Bengal and India U-19 player and now senior coach at TFA, reasons the move as a combination of the academy’s philosophy and their Corporate Social Responsibility with the locals, which meant that they couldn’t sign foreign players unlike their counterparts. “What was our aim? Creating players or creating a club? If our target was to create players then what do we do playing at the senior level? The rest of the clubs would pack their lineups with foreign players with 33-34 year-olds. Will we be able to progress to that level and fight it out?
“In 2003-’04, we qualified for the second division but the CSR activity meant that we couldn’t couldn’t buy foreign players. That is the reason why withdrew at the time. We wanted to develop players. And the results are there for everyone to see..take players like Subrata Paul, Deepak Mondal Robin Singh, Renedy Singh or [Former India captain] Carlton Chapman,” Das said.
As for top quality talent running dry, with the exception winger Udanta Singh, Renedy called for some structural changes: “When I was there two-three years back, I wasn’t happy with with what I saw. How many players do you have from TFA playing in the big league now? We had a dozen of us in the mix for India at one point. It shows that they need to do better; they need to bring a few more good coaches in there.”
Das says the club had previously turned down an opportunity to feature in the ISL, before deciding upon finding a way to stymie talent drain, “For the last 29 years, we created players and sold them. We never thought about our future. One day, we sat and thought about creating our own players and seeing them blossom in front our eyes.”
Now, seven handpicked TFA players have been released to train alongside the first-teamers in the ISL. With new players entering the youth football market more than ever before, TFA have quite the task on its hands.
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https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/football/indian-super-league/top-stories/ministry-pays-isl-teams-fare-for-football-junket/articleshow/61637233.cms
Has the sports ministry approved funding the trip of an Indian Super League(ISL) club for friendlies in Brunei later this month?
TOI has learnt that the travel expenses of ISL franchise, FC Goa - currently roughly valued at Rs 75 crore - is to be borne by the tax payer. A second-rung FC Goa team will represent India in two friendlies against DPMM FC, the club owned by Brunei's crown prince, at Brunei's Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium on November 24 and 25. This is the first in a series of trips which both governments have agreed to undertake in the future too.
What's more interesting is that the ministry sanctioned FC Goa's trip on the recommendation of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), which were responsible for picking a team for the two-day event in the first place.
While the entire episode highlights the ministry's ignorance in such matters, it is the attitude of the AIFF that beggars belief. In a time when any trip abroad can be counted as exposure for our footballers, the federation chose a club from a private tournament and not the I-League. Furthermore, with the ISL beginning from Nov 19, and FC Goa scheduled to play their second match on November 25 (away against Mumbai City FC), it can be safely assumed that the ISL franchise would be flying down a second rung team to Brunei.
"The ministry could have entrusted the SAI to hold a selection trial among the SAI Training Centres (STC) trainees to form a senior age-group team. AIFF too, could have also formed a strong team of its own, selecting the boys from its regional academies. The Brunei government had requested an Indian team to be sent for friendlies, which doesn't necessarily mean FC Goa or any other club. And, if the selection has been done, then why is the ministry spending on the trip of a private club?" an official said.
When AIFF general secretary Kushal Das was contacted for his reaction, he put the onus on the ministry to approve or reject a team. "It wasn't entirely our decision. The government could have sent any of the team of its choice. We told them FC Goa is interested in going, so the government agreed. When the ministry approached us, we talked to several clubs. None of them was interested, except FC Goa. So, we sent their name. We have nothing more to do with it," he added, without explaining why a team from under the AIFF's wing was not considered.
It all started after the Brunei High Commissioner to India wrote to the ministry to send a football team to play an exhibition match with DPMM FC.
"It's been informed that the visit of the Indian football team would be as part of the MoU between the two countries. The accommodation, all meals and transportation would be borne by Brunei side, the Indian side is to bear the travelling expense. Therefore, the matter was taken up by AIFF for sending a football team to Brunei. AIFF has informed that since a club team of Brunei is playing, the AIFF will be able to send a club team from FC Goa. The AIFF has suggested a team of 23 players and five officials of FC Goa," ministry under-secretary A K Patro wrote to SAI, in effect sanctioning the trip and travel expenses.
When Amir Rehman, 23, told his family that his football team was going abroad, they thought it was a joke and laughed. Amir’s father Abdul Rehman Dar, a shawl-embroider in Srinagar, could not believe that his son and his team — including an engineer, a delivery boy, a car dealer and a factory worker — were on to anything serious. He knew about Real Kashmir, and that they were part of the I-League Division II, but travelling to Scotland for off-season training sounded unreal. Four months after that trip, Amir and Real Kashmir were in the national capital last weekend, to play friendly matches against some of the city’s top clubs, Delhi United and ISL’s Delhi Dynamos.
Real Kashmir went down in both the games but Amir is unfazed. At least, he says, his father now takes the team seriously. And so does Real Kashmir’s coach, former Scottish international David Robertson. “We are looking really long term. We want to win the second division first so we can qualify for the main I-League,” Robertson told The Indian Express.
If that does happen, it will be a big leap for a team with modest means, started in March last year by Shameem Meraj, owner of the Kashmir Monitor newspaper, and mostly run through donations from businessmen and supporters in Srinagar.
In September, the club got an unexpected shot in the arm when Robertson posted a photo on Twitter of his team training, with Kashmir’s breathtaking scenery in the background. The image caught the attention of former Ghana international Anthony Obodai, a one-time U-17 World Cupper who has played alongside stars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wesley Sneijder at Ajax FC.
“David told me about the side and I said ‘if you want my help to build the side, I will come’,” Obodai posted on Facebook.
In Srinagar, defender Amir’s day begins with a practice session at the TRC ground, where slots have to be booked in advance. After training, the 22-year-old fan of Manchester United star Paul Pogba cycles around the city, delivering medicines to local chemists.
“I don’t like it at all. But football alone cannot provide for my family of three. It’s not fun, cycling for kilometres every day through the city. I get so tired at the end of the day but I make sure I reach the ground the next day. I feel rejuvenated,” says Amir.
Amir’s teammate Ishfaq Wani, whose father works as an ATM guard, does not have a day job and relies solely on the salary the club pays him — Rs 10,000 every month. “There are hardly any jobs and I have always been passionate about football. It was my dream to become a professional footballer… When I began playing, as a child with borrowed shows, I could not even afford a bus ride from my home to the stadium. I walked almost 8 km a day to play,” says Ishfaq.
His father was reluctant to let him play, but underwent a change of heart after seeing his son’s commitment. Now, he keenly follows the J&K league matches where Real Kashmir finished second this season.
When midfielder Mir Hanan, one the first footballers from Kashmir to play abroad, returned after a year’s stint with Brazil’s Friburguense Atlético Clube during an exchange programme six years ago, he realised the game could not support him financially. He enrolled for engineering in Bengaluru where he played for the college team. His degree earned him a temporary job in Kashmir but he had to quit last year due to the unrest. “I am still looking for a job,” he says.
It’s not just Mir’s job, the unrest in the Valley after the death of militant Burhan Wani last year brought life to a standstill in Srinagar, halting all sporting activity. “We are used to it now. We can’t do much. We have grown up witnessing such unrest. Six months we are playing, six months we are home,” says Mir, rated as one of the side’s top players.
Then there’s Sameer Khan, a car dealer who plays as a defender, and goalkeeper Safiz Riyaz who works at his family-run leather workshop.
With I-League qualification being the first goal to bring the club into the mainstream, Real Kashmir is slowly building momentum. The club has a managed to build U-19, U-17 and U-14 teams, which are provided free training. More exposure trips are being planned; an assistant coach will be hired soon; a Srinagar milk plant recently came on board as sponsor; and, talks are on with a London-based firm for more sponsorship.
The rise, the fall and the road ahead for India’s own La Masia – Tata Football Academy
TFA has produced 130 India internationals, but in recent years, there has been a decline. Can the ISL bring them back in the reckoning?
In many ways, things would come full circle for custodian Subrata Paul if he is selected to play for Jamshedpur FC in their first Indian Super League game on November 18 against NorthEast United.
A full circle because seventeen years ago, the man picked to guard the citadel of the club, waited outside the gates of the very complex they will call home for over two nights just so that he could get a trial at the Tata Football Academy.
“I still remember the day when Subrata first came for trials at TFA, actually they were already over and he spent two nights in front of our main gate. He refused to leave until we gave him a trial... Later I realised that TFA was his only chance as there was no alternative in life, no chance to return home,” the academy’s long-time coach Ranjan Chowdhury had said a few years ago.
Since its inception in 1987, Tata Football Academy has produced more international footballers for India than any other centre and it was understandable why Paul was willing to weather all conditions just to get a look in. At last count, 130 trainees represented the national team at various level from the 11 batches that have been inducted so far.
The setup has two programmes, the juniors or the under-15s and the seniors, also classified as under-19s. With the players closely monitored over a four-year period, and being provided solid exposure, at the junior nationals and a trip overseas as a part of an exchange programme.
India veteran Renedy Singh, one of TFA’s finest products, was full of praise for the academy’s strength-in-depth in the 1990s and Chowdhury’s talent-spotting skills, “Ranjan sir selected me when I was a 11-year-old. That was the only academy in India then. Russi Modi [Former chairman of Tata Steel] and Aditya Kashyap [Modi’s associate and a doyen of Indian football] got Sao Paulo and PSV Eindhoven to India, which is unimaginable now,” Renedy told The Field.
More than a quarter of a century before the start of the lucrative Indian Super League, Super Soccer Series, a brainchild of Kashyap, was a major draw with Indian football fans. Top clubs from Germany, Brazil, Germany and Holland fielded their junior teams in India.
TFA’s rapid rise meant that they could take on some of the best in the business at their own game. What was it that was working for the team? “The training, what we eat...everything – those days, we were the best. Would you believe that we beat Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting,” Renedy added, illustrating how big a force TFA had turned into by the mid-to-late 1990s.
The 31-year-old defender was a product of the sixth batch of the academy, graduating in 2004. Subrata, Subashish Roy Choudhary and Debabrata Roy were his teammates then. Gourmangi, a winner of international 69 caps, also waxed lyrical about his alma mater, “I remain indebted to the the academy. I can’t explain it in words. I was a schoolboy in Manipur when my journey started. I had the most important four years of my life there, They [TFA] were the pioneers.
“As teenagers, we don’t have experience about many things in life. At TFA, we learnt so many things. The training sessions we had were the best at the time.” It was Gourmangi’s displays in the youth nationals that helped him rise to prominence.
The alarming lack of numbers
Some have criticised their policy of inducting only teenagers in their setup instead of grooming kids in their pre-teens, which is the case with most big clubs in Europe.
Any youth player worth his salt would tell you that he craves for competitive football. However, TFA, despite winning the National Football League second division in 2005, opted against rising through the ranks. Even Barcelona B and Real Madrid Castilla play in the Spanish Segunda division.
Akshay Das, East Bengal and India U-19 player and now senior coach at TFA, reasons the move as a combination of the academy’s philosophy and their Corporate Social Responsibility with the locals, which meant that they couldn’t sign foreign players unlike their counterparts. “What was our aim? Creating players or creating a club? If our target was to create players then what do we do playing at the senior level? The rest of the clubs would pack their lineups with foreign players with 33-34 year-olds. Will we be able to progress to that level and fight it out?
“In 2003-’04, we qualified for the second division but the CSR activity meant that we couldn’t couldn’t buy foreign players. That is the reason why withdrew at the time. We wanted to develop players. And the results are there for everyone to see..take players like Subrata Paul, Deepak Mondal Robin Singh, Renedy Singh or [Former India captain] Carlton Chapman,” Das said.
As for top quality talent running dry, with the exception winger Udanta Singh, Renedy called for some structural changes: “When I was there two-three years back, I wasn’t happy with with what I saw. How many players do you have from TFA playing in the big league now? We had a dozen of us in the mix for India at one point. It shows that they need to do better; they need to bring a few more good coaches in there.”
Das says the club had previously turned down an opportunity to feature in the ISL, before deciding upon finding a way to stymie talent drain, “For the last 29 years, we created players and sold them. We never thought about our future. One day, we sat and thought about creating our own players and seeing them blossom in front our eyes.”
Now, seven handpicked TFA players have been released to train alongside the first-teamers in the ISL. With new players entering the youth football market more than ever before, TFA have quite the task on its hands.
I hope the factory creates more players as always and now with a club they have a real purpose as well to succeed.