Football was never the most popular sport in Chennai, cricket and tennis being the runaway leaders for a very long time. It meant that top academies in those disciplines — the MRF Pace Foundationand the (now defunct) Britannia Amritraj Tennis Academy — were from the city that went on to produce a lot of international players.
But with the beginning of the Indian Super League (ISL) things have changed and interest among the locals for football has increased. The fact that Chennaiyin FC won the ISL twice and Chennai City FC are doing very well in the I League helped the game grow in the state.
But both these teams have mostly outstation and foreign players who are making the difference. The lack of home-grown talent is an issue that needs to be addressed and city-based club FC Madras (earlier known as Mahogany FC) is taking steps to build a youth team.
It has set up a residential football school for budding players in Perungudi and enrolled 32 boys from Sikkim, Manipur, Tamil Nadu and Kerala for the programme. The boys have been divided into U-13 and U-15 categories and the club has tied-up with APL Global School where the boys are studying under open education system.
The interesting bit is that boys from north-eastern states, where football is really big, are travelling to Chennai to learn the tricks of the trade. “Our aim is to identify talented kids from across the country and give them a platform to become professional football players. We’ll be taking a 360 degree approach for their development by managing both on and off-field activities including high-performance training, nutrition and education” said Arindam Biswas, the head of youth development of FC Madras, who set up the academy with his friend Joseph Vaz in 2006.
The entire project is led by Arindam, an Asian Football Confederation A license holder coach. The club also runs 20 training centres in the city in areas like Adyar, T Nagar, Velachery and Thoraipakkam and there are 21 coaches under its wings where more than 500 trainees practise. The club is also preparing to build an international-size pitch in Thoraipakkam which can be treated as a home ground. FC Madras has signed partnership deals V Jagannathan, the owner of Ramaniyam and Great Sports Infra for the project. The construction works have already started and we’re hoping to finish it before August 15.
The initial challenge for Arindam was to get the boys from other states adjusted to a new atmosphere. But now after three months, most of them feel at home. “My aim is to play for my country and get a team in the top Indian leagues and make a better career in football. The facilities here are very good and our club has a competent coaching staff. It’s a new atmosphere but I feel good playing here,” said U-15 footballer Thanglenngam, a resident of Manipur. It wasn’t too long ago when the academy kids went to Barcelona for an exposure trip where they watched Andres Iniesta's last match for the club against Real Sociedad. “Watching Iniesta and the Barcelona team playing was like a dream come true. We trained under a former Swansea City footballer Fede Bessone,” said Harshvardhan, a U-15 trainee. But, it wouldn’t have been possible without the vision of Arindam. While football coaching was his passion, the former banker dreamt of having his own team one day. While he was coaching the kids at Mahogany, Arindam met Girish Mathrubootham, the founder and CEO of Freshworks. “My son trains in Mahogany and I was open to investing in a sporting venture because it’s a passion for me. But at the same time I wanted to see how serious Arindam was about his business. I found him hardworking and serious and decided to make the investment to help the academy grow and build a high-performing team for the future,” said Girish. Arindam is hoping to get a few players ready from the academy who will represent the national side and also make it to some of the top club teams in the next five to six years. “Our main hindrance was lack of financial support. It’s not possible to build a strong team overnight. It’s a long process and we need to invest just not money, but also our time and other resources properly. We are now hoping to operate in a more organised and professional way with an aim of forming a winning combination in the youth divisions soon,” the coach explained.
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Team for a dream, an FC Madras project
But with the beginning of the Indian Super League (ISL) things have changed and interest among the locals for football has increased. The fact that Chennaiyin FC won the ISL twice and Chennai City FC are doing very well in the I League helped the game grow in the state.
But both these teams have mostly outstation and foreign players who are making the difference. The lack of home-grown talent is an issue that needs to be addressed and city-based club FC Madras (earlier known as Mahogany FC) is taking steps to build a youth team.
It has set up a residential football school for budding players in Perungudi and enrolled 32 boys from Sikkim, Manipur, Tamil Nadu and Kerala for the programme. The boys have been divided into U-13 and U-15 categories and the club has tied-up with APL Global School where the boys are studying under open education system.
The interesting bit is that boys from north-eastern states, where football is really big, are travelling to Chennai to learn the tricks of the trade. “Our aim is to identify talented kids from across the country and give them a platform to become professional football players. We’ll be taking a 360 degree approach for their development by managing both on and off-field activities including high-performance training, nutrition and education” said Arindam Biswas, the head of youth development of FC Madras, who set up the academy with his friend Joseph Vaz in 2006.
The entire project is led by Arindam, an Asian Football Confederation A license holder coach. The club also runs 20 training centres in the city in areas like Adyar, T Nagar, Velachery and Thoraipakkam and there are 21 coaches under its wings where more than 500 trainees practise. The club is also preparing to build an international-size pitch in Thoraipakkam which can be treated as a home ground. FC Madras has signed partnership deals V Jagannathan, the owner of Ramaniyam and Great Sports Infra for the project. The construction works have already started and we’re hoping to finish it before August 15.
The initial challenge for Arindam was to get the boys from other states adjusted to a new atmosphere. But now after three months, most of them feel at home. “My aim is to play for my country and get a team in the top Indian leagues and make a better career in football. The facilities here are very good and our club has a competent coaching staff. It’s a new atmosphere but I feel good playing here,” said U-15 footballer Thanglenngam, a resident of Manipur.
It wasn’t too long ago when the academy kids went to Barcelona for an exposure trip where they watched Andres Iniesta's last match for the club against Real Sociedad. “Watching Iniesta and the Barcelona team playing was like a dream come true. We trained under a former Swansea City footballer Fede Bessone,” said Harshvardhan, a U-15 trainee.
But, it wouldn’t have been possible without the vision of Arindam. While football coaching was his passion, the former banker dreamt of having his own team one day. While he was coaching the kids at Mahogany, Arindam met Girish Mathrubootham, the founder and CEO of Freshworks. “My son trains in Mahogany and I was open to investing in a sporting venture because it’s a passion for me. But at the same time I wanted to see how serious Arindam was about his business. I found him hardworking and serious and decided to make the investment to help the academy grow and build a high-performing team for the future,” said Girish.
Arindam is hoping to get a few players ready from the academy who will represent the national side and also make it to some of the top club teams in the next five to six years. “Our main hindrance was lack of financial support. It’s not possible to build a strong team overnight. It’s a long process and we need to invest just not money, but also our time and other resources properly. We are now hoping to operate in a more organised and professional way with an aim of forming a winning combination in the youth divisions soon,” the coach explained.
They are the top academy for youth in the city but coaching is costly which drives away middle class and lower class youngsters.
A Borussia Dortmund story in the making for Indian football
Borussia Dortmund officials revealed that the club had made contact with Bengaluru FC, FC Goa and other I-League clubs in search of a sustainable partnership.