So Savio has spoken up and I think he is starting to win me over. Of course this is just talk but still he shows that he is not an idiot.
Stuff in green is stuff I agree with and that is a lot. Let me summarize it...
1) He is right about the Icon players. They will do little. They will bring in crowds for a while but then the crowds will disappear due to the bad play. 2 icons dont make the game and also its more foreign than I-League. How will that help. I am swaying to off topic here. Next point...
2) He is right. Stadiums come first. If you have the money you invest in the stadium because you invest in a stadium it leads to fans, fans lead to money and money leads to players. Even in MLS we have artificial turf in most MLS stadiums (Not New York, we use real grass) so you can tell turf in MLS is better than all of India yet we still get complaints from our star players about how shit it artificial turf is. Even Thierry Henry who plays for my Red Bulls complained about the turf even though he was being payed more than all PLS players combined. Point... money wont stop "icon" players from complaining.
3) Academies will help. Whether there I-League or PLS or any other league they help. Right now Pune FC is setting the bar. Sure Mohun Bagan have one and Lajong sort of does, same with Dempo who have a small acadmey but Pune FC beats them all out right. In fact the Pune FC Academy system may even be better than Arsenal FCs and Barcelonas academy. We need a rule in I-League from the AIFF. If you join the the I-League then you have 5 years to start an Academy or your automatically expelled. (Example: You get promoted in 2012, you have till 2017 to start your Academy)
4) We need an overhaul. From National League to small inter-city district leagues. A better football pyramid is needed. It should be I-League, I-League 2nd Division, Zonal Leagues, State Leagues, District Leagues and on from there.
5) This point in blue really caught my eye. Parents staying and watching there kid play. In America we have Soccer moms who just volentarly take care of the team. They are just mothers who want to get involved. They go to the practice or game. Just sit and watch it while the kids and coaches do there thing then after practice and matches they take the kids out or they provide snacks. Thats what we need for grassroots. Total Parent Participation. It may seem like they wont help but trust me they do (I would not be a New York Red Bulls U18 player if it were not for my parents at practices.)
6) Timings is a major problem. We have way to many weekday games. I wonder who's idea was that. If you want fans at the games then we need weekend 7:00 matches. Or if needed weekend day matches. Playing in 90 degree (F) weather in the sun during the day can kill some one. Also people have work in the weekdays. They cant leave work for a football match at 3:30. We should have an MLS type week schedule... Wednesday will be the first game of the round. The match will be at night at 7:00pm. Thursday: TEN Action Match of the Week at 7:00 pm. (Thats 2 out of 7 games done, both at night) Saturday: Have 3 games. 2 at night, 1 during the day. Then on Sunday end the Round with 2 more games, both at night. And that is it. 6 out of 7 games at night with no stadium conflicts can be achievable.
7) I highlighted Men in Blue because we are BLUE TIGERS! Not Men is Blue.
8) He is right. More Indians need to be given exposure. Especially the young ones. Right now the AIFF need a rule that only 2 foreigners out of a teams 4 can be forwards. The rest have to be something else. Also each I-League team should be forced to play at least 1 Indian up front. That way they get more experience. Also if a team tries to break this rule (register a foreigner as a midfielder but then play him up front) then that player is suspended a month and the coach is suspended a month too.
So overall I agree with Savio for once. He has spoken wisely for once in his life. Now show that you are wise as a national coach. First step is to select wisely for the AFC Challenge Cup.
So Savio has spoken up and I think he is starting to win me over. Of course this is just talk but still he shows that he is not an idiot.
Stuff in green is stuff I agree with and that is a lot. Let me summarize it...
1) He is right about the Icon players. They will do little. They will bring in crowds for a while but then the crowds will disappear due to the bad play. 2 icons dont make the game and also its more foreign than I-League. How will that help. I am swaying to off topic here. Next point...
2) He is right. Stadiums come first. If you have the money you invest in the stadium because you invest in a stadium it leads to fans, fans lead to money and money leads to players. Even in MLS we have artificial turf in most MLS stadiums (Not New York, we use real grass) so you can tell turf in MLS is better than all of India yet we still get complaints from our star players about how shit it artificial turf is. Even Thierry Henry who plays for my Red Bulls complained about the turf even though he was being payed more than all PLS players combined. Point... money wont stop "icon" players from complaining.
3) Academies will help. Whether there I-League or PLS or any other league they help. Right now Pune FC is setting the bar. Sure Mohun Bagan have one and Lajong sort of does, same with Dempo who have a small acadmey but Pune FC beats them all out right. In fact the Pune FC Academy system may even be better than Arsenal FCs and Barcelonas academy. We need a rule in I-League from the AIFF. If you join the the I-League then you have 5 years to start an Academy or your automatically expelled. (Example: You get promoted in 2012, you have till 2017 to start your Academy)
4) We need an overhaul. From National League to small inter-city district leagues. A better football pyramid is needed. It should be I-League, I-League 2nd Division, Zonal Leagues, State Leagues, District Leagues and on from there.
5) This point in blue really caught my eye. Parents staying and watching there kid play. In America we have Soccer moms who just volentarly take care of the team. They are just mothers who want to get involved. They go to the practice or game. Just sit and watch it while the kids and coaches do there thing then after practice and matches they take the kids out or they provide snacks. Thats what we need for grassroots. Total Parent Participation. It may seem like they wont help but trust me they do (I would not be a New York Red Bulls U18 player if it were not for my parents at practices.)
6) Timings is a major problem. We have way to many weekday games. I wonder who's idea was that. If you want fans at the games then we need weekend 7:00 matches. Or if needed weekend day matches. Playing in 90 degree (F) weather in the sun during the day can kill some one. Also people have work in the weekdays. They cant leave work for a football match at 3:30. We should have an MLS type week schedule... Wednesday will be the first game of the round. The match will be at night at 7:00pm. Thursday: TEN Action Match of the Week at 7:00 pm. (Thats 2 out of 7 games done, both at night) Saturday: Have 3 games. 2 at night, 1 during the day. Then on Sunday end the Round with 2 more games, both at night. And that is it. 6 out of 7 games at night with no stadium conflicts can be achievable.
7) I highlighted Men in Blue because we are BLUE TIGERS! Not Men is Blue.
8) He is right. More Indians need to be given exposure. Especially the young ones. Right now the AIFF need a rule that only 2 foreigners out of a teams 4 can be forwards. The rest have to be something else. Also each I-League team should be forced to play at least 1 Indian up front. That way they get more experience. Also if a team tries to break this rule (register a foreigner as a midfielder but then play him up front) then that player is suspended a month and the coach is suspended a month too.
So overall I agree with Savio for once. He has spoken wisely for once in his life. Now show that you are wise as a national coach. First step is to select wisely for the AFC Challenge Cup.
points 1,2,3,4,6,7,8 aere already discussed many times in forum and exactly a <!-- s:handgestures-thumbup: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/handgestures/thumbup.gif" alt=":handgestures-thumbup:" title="Thumb Up" /><!-- s:handgestures-thumbup: --> for those points
and the point of parents involving should be really given a thought mainly be metro clubs at least as there is some good craze among the parents here to follow west and i see them readily accepting the idea if implemented
A couple of years ago, I.M. Vijayan spoke about how he used to rush from place to place, night after night, to play sevens football tournaments in Kozhikode and Malappuram. The sport offered big money and Vijayan pulled in huge crowds. The mix was heady.
Sevens football certainly appears to offer plenty of options for players in Kerala. The Kerala Sevens Football Association conducts some 40 tournaments under its umbrella every season. And, on Wednesday, the KSFA announced its first Indian Sevens Football Premier League which will be held in Kochi in April.
“We will have 16 teams in the Sevens Premier League, including four from outside the State. And two foreigners will be allowed in each team,” said the KSFA President K.M. Lenin. “It will be a football carnival of sorts with food, music, fashion and films also coming in.”
But there's a hitch
All these KSFA events, including the coming Sevens Premier League, are being viewed as unauthorised tournaments by the Kerala Football Association. And the KFA-registered players who are in action in these tournaments are likely to face disciplinary action, including bans for a year or two.
The KFA is not against sevens as such, only it is keen on bringing some order in football's smaller version.
“In fact, four sevens tournaments — three in Ernakulam and one in Kozhikode — were conducted with our approval last year,” said the P. Anil Kumar, the KFA General Secretary, on Wednesday.
And then, he let out the KFA's major sevens plans for this year. “We will be organising a big all-India sevens tournament too in April at Malappuram, soon after the I-League. We have sent our plan to the AIFF (the All India Football Federation) and are waiting for its approval,” revealed Anil Kumar. “We will even have international stars who are currently in the I-League, playing in our sevens tournament.”
So, there could be a clash between the two tournaments between the KFA and the KSFA tournaments!
It's a fact that the number of tournaments in elevens has come down drastically in Kerala.
For a State which boasted of top quality all-India tournaments like Kozhikode's Sait Nagjee, Thrissur's Chakola Gold Cup, Kochi's Nehru Trophy, Kannur's Sree Narayana, Kottayam's Mamman Mappilla, Kollam's Jubilee Trophy and Thiruvananthapuram's G.V. Raja, the spread was very thin last year.
“We just had two tournaments last year, at Valappad in Thrissur and the Navy Cup in Kochi…both were all-Kerala events,” said Anil Kumar. But even the Navy Cup was cancelled at the last minute which means that there was just one tournament in the State last year, if one leaves out the State inter-club and inter-district championships.
The absence of tournaments was one of the things the KSFA President kept harping on during the Sevens Premier League launch event here.
“There are very few elevens tournaments, so we should encourage whoever is promoting football,” said Lenin.
The sevens organisers frequently bend the rules.
“There is virtually no discipline in the many unauthorised sevens tournaments that are being conducted today,” said KFA's Anil Kumar. “For example, if a red card is shown in football, the player is sent out. We follow it even in our approved sevens tournaments. But in other sevens, a substitute comes in.”
“But sevens will be no fun if a player is sent out, so we bring in a substitute,” said Lenin.
Farcical Goodwill Football match fails to please football enthusiast
mphal, February 19, 2012: The Goodwill Football match between Manipur XI and FC Kickers, Japan organised by the Manipur Tourism Forum ended up as a farce with spectators with high hopes outraged with the cheating like nature of the Manipur Tourism Forum.
The whole stadium was crowded with football lovers of the state to witnessed the rare match between Manipur XI and FC Kickers Japan with high hopes of seeing a keenly contested match between the two teams.
However, all the expectations of the spectators fell into vain when they realised that players of FC Kickers were not much talented as they thought to be.
The match was won by Manipur XI 4-1.The Manipur XI team was formed by an expert committee to give its optimum perfomances.
On the other hand, the players of FC Kickers turned out to be employees of different Japanese companies in India and some tourists who formed the team.
Meanwhile, President of the Manipur Tourism Forum, Dr Th Dhabali told Hueiyen Lanpao that the match was a first step for the development of Manipur Tourism even though it failed to fulfill the expectations of the football enthusiasts of Manipur.
In all 17,000 tickets were sold and more than 20,000 spectators witnessed the match.
The proceed of the match will be utilised in the development of Tourism in the state after a meeting of the forum, Dr Dhabali said.
I dont get it. Why are the fans angry. They just saw some good football. Mind you the Japanese team was a not professional. The Manipur Citizens need to realize that if that money that was gained is really used for tourism (ie. renovating hotels, making more landmarks etc) then the more likely a owner with money will come in and create a football club for Manipur. Think about it. If you were an owner wanting to own a sports team and you saw that in Manipur that tourism is getting better, a good stadium is in place, youth players are in place, government support is in place, and a good 20,000 fans per game is certain wouldnt you want to make a football club there. I would.
NO LINK
A PATRICK shah gt selected 4 ROMANIAN
CLUB steachu burachest.
.he just put it as his status ON FB PROFILE. his status reads
>>Patrick Shah
Got accepted into Steaua Bucharest..
Might be the first Indian to play in a
champions league team.. Fucking proud
<< status a day earlier was
>>Patrick Shah Football Trials with
Steaua Bucharest
tomorrow, hope they take me.. "fingers
crossed"<<
here's link 2 his FB profile
<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.facebook.com/prithvi.shah2?refid=7"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">www.facebook.com/prithvi.shah2?refid=7</a><!-- w -->
Jamshid Nassiri believes the I-League has done much more harm than good to Indian football.
“If you look at the quality of football in this country before the introduction of the I-League, or the NFL as it was earlier called, you would see it was much better in those days,” said Nassiri, during an interview with The Hindu here the other day; the former Iranian striker — and one of the earliest international stars in Indian domestic football — was in the city to select players for the Tata Tea Inter Milan Soccer Star programme.
“Back in my days, when there was no I-League, there used to be so many annual football tournaments, in which all the top clubs competed. The I-League killed those tournaments,” he said. “And there used to be huge crowds for those events, especially in Kerala.”
LOVED PLAYING IN KERALA
He has many fond memories about playing in Kerala. “I loved playing in Kerala, especially here in Kozhikode, which used to host the Sait Nagjee tournament,” he said. “And every time I played here, in the 1980's, my team — be it East Bengal or Mohammedan Sporting — ended up winning. And I scored some nice goals too. When I visit Kozhikode, people still come up to me and tell me about how they enjoyed seeing me score those goals.”
Nassiri feels the All India Football Federation should revive those tournaments soon, if it wants to see Indian football making any progress.
“What is the point of playing football matches before empty stands?” he said. “And the I-League clubs should be persuaded to have junior sides. Even more importantly, the AIFF should do something about catching footballers young.”
Lack of training
He said the lack of training for young footballers is the main reason why India remains at the bottom of world ranking. “You cannot expect much from teaching boys from the age of 15,” he said. “And there have to be more football academies in India; I am impressed with the work that the Chandigarh Football Academy is doing. They are training footballers under the age of 10. Why can't there be such academies in States like Kerala, Goa and Bengal?”
He said he was hopeful about football in Bengal as the current Government seemed keen to start academies for children.
“The officials have had discussions with me too, and I would be delighted to cooperate with them,” he said. “I would like to contribute in whatever way I could for the development of Indian football. I believe there is talent in this country of one billion people. If we could identify those talents and train them properly, India could still be a force to reckon with in international football.”
Oh come on! Get over yourself. Its all the KFAs fault. They should have revamped the Kerala Football League but they didnt and now look. What, should the AIFF have to do everything. The state associations have to do something to.
Also nonsense..I-league has improved the quality of players and not otherwise..what was the use of all those tournaments..in his time there was only a Mohan Bagan or East Bengal or at most Mohammedan Sporting club who used to win most...& u can very well doubt these clubs otherwise intentions...these yester years players always think they were the greatest..huge EGO works here....u know i wasnt actually surprised when i read in barefoot magazine that India actually didnt play in 1950 world cup because they feared humiliation of playing against top 'Professional' football teams. The Olympics was only for Amateurs...& everyone keeps on hiding this..no wonder they lost 10-0 in the simi finals of the Olympics...
Also nonsense..I-league has improved the quality of players and not otherwise..what was the use of all those tournaments..in his time there was only a Mohan Bagan or East Bengal or at most Mohammedan Sporting club who used to win most...& u can very well doubt these clubs otherwise intentions...these yester years players always think they were the greatest..huge EGO works here....u know i wasnt actually surprised when i read in barefoot magazine that India actually didnt play in 1950 world cup because they feared humiliation of playing against top 'Professional' football teams. The Olympics was only for Amateurs...& everyone keeps on hiding this..no wonder they lost 10-0 in the simi finals of the Olympics...
<!-- s:bow-plusone: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/bow/plusone.gif" alt=":bow-plusone:" title="PlusOne" /><!-- s:bow-plusone: --> Plus the so called "achievements" made by the players back then in Asian Football were also fake. Asian Football was never heard of back then. I bet if we gather the best Indians to the India national football team and go back in time to the 1960s and have an India vs India game then our 21st century India would win 5-0. These are legends, yes, but they are not as good as what we have now.
Also why do we need MORE tournaments. We need LESS! Right now in I-League we have I-League, Federation Cup, Durand Cup, IFA Shield, Random BS Tournaments, State Leagues. Right now the I-League teams should have to play in 1 Pre-Season tournament with 3-7 more teams, I-League, Federation Cup and that is it. We need to keep the players fit to. We have seen the impact with Pal, Sunil and Jeje all being out.
Comments
and the point of parents involving should be really given a thought mainly be metro clubs at least as there is some good craze among the parents here to follow west and i see them readily accepting the idea if implemented
A couple of years ago, I.M. Vijayan spoke about how he used to rush from place to place, night after night, to play sevens football tournaments in Kozhikode and Malappuram. The sport offered big money and Vijayan pulled in huge crowds. The mix was heady.
Sevens football certainly appears to offer plenty of options for players in Kerala. The Kerala Sevens Football Association conducts some 40 tournaments under its umbrella every season. And, on Wednesday, the KSFA announced its first Indian Sevens Football Premier League which will be held in Kochi in April.
“We will have 16 teams in the Sevens Premier League, including four from outside the State. And two foreigners will be allowed in each team,” said the KSFA President K.M. Lenin. “It will be a football carnival of sorts with food, music, fashion and films also coming in.”
But there's a hitch
All these KSFA events, including the coming Sevens Premier League, are being viewed as unauthorised tournaments by the Kerala Football Association. And the KFA-registered players who are in action in these tournaments are likely to face disciplinary action, including bans for a year or two.
The KFA is not against sevens as such, only it is keen on bringing some order in football's smaller version.
“In fact, four sevens tournaments — three in Ernakulam and one in Kozhikode — were conducted with our approval last year,” said the P. Anil Kumar, the KFA General Secretary, on Wednesday.
And then, he let out the KFA's major sevens plans for this year. “We will be organising a big all-India sevens tournament too in April at Malappuram, soon after the I-League. We have sent our plan to the AIFF (the All India Football Federation) and are waiting for its approval,” revealed Anil Kumar. “We will even have international stars who are currently in the I-League, playing in our sevens tournament.”
So, there could be a clash between the two tournaments between the KFA and the KSFA tournaments!
It's a fact that the number of tournaments in elevens has come down drastically in Kerala.
For a State which boasted of top quality all-India tournaments like Kozhikode's Sait Nagjee, Thrissur's Chakola Gold Cup, Kochi's Nehru Trophy, Kannur's Sree Narayana, Kottayam's Mamman Mappilla, Kollam's Jubilee Trophy and Thiruvananthapuram's G.V. Raja, the spread was very thin last year.
“We just had two tournaments last year, at Valappad in Thrissur and the Navy Cup in Kochi…both were all-Kerala events,” said Anil Kumar. But even the Navy Cup was cancelled at the last minute which means that there was just one tournament in the State last year, if one leaves out the State inter-club and inter-district championships.
The absence of tournaments was one of the things the KSFA President kept harping on during the Sevens Premier League launch event here.
“There are very few elevens tournaments, so we should encourage whoever is promoting football,” said Lenin.
The sevens organisers frequently bend the rules.
“There is virtually no discipline in the many unauthorised sevens tournaments that are being conducted today,” said KFA's Anil Kumar. “For example, if a red card is shown in football, the player is sent out. We follow it even in our approved sevens tournaments. But in other sevens, a substitute comes in.”
“But sevens will be no fun if a player is sent out, so we bring in a substitute,” said Lenin.
mphal, February 19, 2012: The Goodwill Football match between Manipur XI and FC Kickers, Japan organised by the Manipur Tourism Forum ended up as a farce with spectators with high hopes outraged with the cheating like nature of the Manipur Tourism Forum.
The whole stadium was crowded with football lovers of the state to witnessed the rare match between Manipur XI and FC Kickers Japan with high hopes of seeing a keenly contested match between the two teams.
However, all the expectations of the spectators fell into vain when they realised that players of FC Kickers were not much talented as they thought to be.
The match was won by Manipur XI 4-1.The Manipur XI team was formed by an expert committee to give its optimum perfomances.
On the other hand, the players of FC Kickers turned out to be employees of different Japanese companies in India and some tourists who formed the team.
Meanwhile, President of the Manipur Tourism Forum, Dr Th Dhabali told Hueiyen Lanpao that the match was a first step for the development of Manipur Tourism even though it failed to fulfill the expectations of the football enthusiasts of Manipur.
In all 17,000 tickets were sold and more than 20,000 spectators witnessed the match.
The proceed of the match will be utilised in the development of Tourism in the state after a meeting of the forum, Dr Dhabali said.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
I dont get it. Why are the fans angry. They just saw some good football. Mind you the Japanese team was a not professional. The Manipur Citizens need to realize that if that money that was gained is really used for tourism (ie. renovating hotels, making more landmarks etc) then the more likely a owner with money will come in and create a football club for Manipur. Think about it. If you were an owner wanting to own a sports team and you saw that in Manipur that tourism is getting better, a good stadium is in place, youth players are in place, government support is in place, and a good 20,000 fans per game is certain wouldnt you want to make a football club there. I would.
A PATRICK shah gt selected 4 ROMANIAN
CLUB steachu burachest.
.he just put it as his status ON FB PROFILE. his status reads
>>Patrick Shah
Got accepted into Steaua Bucharest..
Might be the first Indian to play in a
champions league team.. Fucking proud
<< status a day earlier was
>>Patrick Shah Football Trials with
Steaua Bucharest
tomorrow, hope they take me.. "fingers
crossed"<<
here's link 2 his FB profile
<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.facebook.com/prithvi.shah2?refid=7"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">www.facebook.com/prithvi.shah2?refid=7</a><!-- w -->
Jamshid Nassiri believes the I-League has done much more harm than good to Indian football.
“If you look at the quality of football in this country before the introduction of the I-League, or the NFL as it was earlier called, you would see it was much better in those days,” said Nassiri, during an interview with The Hindu here the other day; the former Iranian striker — and one of the earliest international stars in Indian domestic football — was in the city to select players for the Tata Tea Inter Milan Soccer Star programme.
“Back in my days, when there was no I-League, there used to be so many annual football tournaments, in which all the top clubs competed. The I-League killed those tournaments,” he said. “And there used to be huge crowds for those events, especially in Kerala.”
LOVED PLAYING IN KERALA
He has many fond memories about playing in Kerala. “I loved playing in Kerala, especially here in Kozhikode, which used to host the Sait Nagjee tournament,” he said. “And every time I played here, in the 1980's, my team — be it East Bengal or Mohammedan Sporting — ended up winning. And I scored some nice goals too. When I visit Kozhikode, people still come up to me and tell me about how they enjoyed seeing me score those goals.”
Nassiri feels the All India Football Federation should revive those tournaments soon, if it wants to see Indian football making any progress.
“What is the point of playing football matches before empty stands?” he said. “And the I-League clubs should be persuaded to have junior sides. Even more importantly, the AIFF should do something about catching footballers young.”
Lack of training
He said the lack of training for young footballers is the main reason why India remains at the bottom of world ranking. “You cannot expect much from teaching boys from the age of 15,” he said. “And there have to be more football academies in India; I am impressed with the work that the Chandigarh Football Academy is doing. They are training footballers under the age of 10. Why can't there be such academies in States like Kerala, Goa and Bengal?”
He said he was hopeful about football in Bengal as the current Government seemed keen to start academies for children.
“The officials have had discussions with me too, and I would be delighted to cooperate with them,” he said. “I would like to contribute in whatever way I could for the development of Indian football. I believe there is talent in this country of one billion people. If we could identify those talents and train them properly, India could still be a force to reckon with in international football.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Oh come on! Get over yourself. Its all the KFAs fault. They should have revamped the Kerala Football League but they didnt and now look. What, should the AIFF have to do everything. The state associations have to do something to.
<!-- s:bow-plusone: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/bow/plusone.gif" alt=":bow-plusone:" title="PlusOne" /><!-- s:bow-plusone: --> Plus the so called "achievements" made by the players back then in Asian Football were also fake. Asian Football was never heard of back then. I bet if we gather the best Indians to the India national football team and go back in time to the 1960s and have an India vs India game then our 21st century India would win 5-0. These are legends, yes, but they are not as good as what we have now.
Also why do we need MORE tournaments. We need LESS! Right now in I-League we have I-League, Federation Cup, Durand Cup, IFA Shield, Random BS Tournaments, State Leagues. Right now the I-League teams should have to play in 1 Pre-Season tournament with 3-7 more teams, I-League, Federation Cup and that is it. We need to keep the players fit to. We have seen the impact with Pal, Sunil and Jeje all being out.