<b style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; ">Suggestion: Mandate that I-League clubs must form a "B" team (Like FC Barcelona B or Bayern Munich and play them in there respective state league.</b><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; "><b><br></b></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; ">I think we can all agree that one problem in India is our youth league. The I-League U20 is a 1-2 month long "league" (more like tournament) which will get teams 4-10 games a year. Most teams after this give up. I know there are a few teams however that play on. Teams in Goa play there respective youth leagues and sometimes in GPL. Pune FC dont even play <b>at all</b> in there state league and have already adopted the "B" team in "Pune A" (Pune F.C. Academy). So far it has worked wonders as now they are I-League U20 champs and almost Pune Senior Division champs. </div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; ">This has already seen 3 Pune FC Academy players promoted to the first-team in only 1 year. That is amazing but would be better if it happened at all clubs. The I-League U20, I feel, wont change for a while. It shall always remain the 1-2 month tournament for maybe a few years longer. Till then why not play them in the state league. Now clubs wont do that automatically. They need to be forced to in my opinion. So I propose we make a mandate which forces all 14 I-League clubs to only play "B" teams in state tournaments. </div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; ">B teams are better than U21 teams because on the "B" team, your players can be any age but most likely youth. You can also play older players as well but at a limit.</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">EXAMPLES: I would like to compare Spain, England and Germany. In England, if Arsenal say that a player is to good for the Reserves but not good enough for the first-team, we loan them out but that then takes them out of the set-up and the player comes good but could be better. We have seen that in England's youth performance. Then look at Spain and Germany. Look at Barcelona. There "B" team is only in the 2nd Division. So if they think a player is to good for the youth set-up but not FCB material they let him play in the "B" team and look at the wonder. This works and the teams gets to keep monitoring progress as the player grows.</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">So what do you all think?</font></div>
<br><div>agree,t<span style="font-size: 10pt; ">he fact that 3 of 4 euro cup semifinalist have top clubs whose b teams play in lower league states the success rate of this idea....</span></div><div>In current time, i think even goan teams play their b team in goan league and not their 1st team players which is the thing needed to be present all over the country</div><div><br></div><div>and also with that a need for reserve league could be avoided and still the pipeline for senior team looks intact</div>
<font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Guys , so i just had this idea:</font><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Notice how no one is really interested in durand cup these days; even if it is one of the oldest in the world. Due to a limited followng, only mediocore i league clubs from a few places are participating n it; which is just going to reduce its popularity even further. Then why not completely change its format, instead of services and i league teams , why not get champions of every state league in india to participate in it. This way all the clubs from all over india will have a chance to fight for natonal recognition every year. THis will benifit football as there is going to be more competition and and investments in teams all over ndia and not just in a few states. Its shoud be like the AIFF champions league for state assaociations. Every club in the country should have a chance to fight it out in india's captal DElhi at the end. (kinda like the FA cup in london) </font></div>
<font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Guys , so i just had this idea:</font><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">Notice how no one is really interested in durand cup these days; even if it is one of the oldest in the world. Due to a limited followng, only mediocore i league clubs from a few places are participating n it; which is just going to reduce its popularity even further. Then why not completely change its format, instead of services and i league teams , why not get champions of every state league in india to participate in it. This way all the clubs from all over india will have a chance to fight for natonal recognition every year. THis will benifit football as there is going to be more competition and and investments in teams all over ndia and not just in a few states. Its shoud be like the AIFF champions league for state assaociations. Every club in the country should have a chance to fight it out in india's captal DElhi at the end. (kinda like the FA cup in london) </font></div>
<br><div><br></div><div>Its good but a little to ahead of its time. I do believe that something like this should happen soon but for now I dont think so. Mainly because most club sides in states other than Nagaland, Mizoram, Goa, West Bengal (to name a few) are...</div><div><br></div><div>A) Not in state leagues but in city leagues (Yes I know West Bengal is Calcutta)</div><div><br>B) Most clubs are 100% corporate clubs in which the players only come from the company. Plus the level of skill they have will be greatly outnumbered.</div><div><br></div><div>C) Greatest reason of all... not every state has a state league. Some states dont have a league, some dont have a proper league. Some dont even have proper players.</div><div><br></div><div>Until we solve this (which wont be for a few years) than I cant see a model like yours work. It is great but ahead of its time.</div>
</font><br><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">agree,t<span style="font-size: 10pt; ">he fact that 3 of 4 euro cup semifinalist have top clubs whose b teams play in lower league states the success rate of this idea....</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">In current time, i think even goan teams play their b team in goan league and not their 1st team players which is the thing needed to be present all over the country</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">and also with that a need for reserve league could be avoided and still the pipeline for senior team looks intact</div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">
</font><br><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Exactly. Plus I dont see a Reserve League working. I will use the Premier Reserve League (Premier League Reserve League) and MLS Reserve League as examples. </div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Premier Reserve League can work because of England's small size and the amount of clubs they have which make division simple. MLS Reserve League is like us, in a big country with not enough teams to really divide. So far the MLS Reserve League has been hit by this hard and before it ran from 2005-2008 then 2010-present but could be disbanded again due to many travel problems etc. </div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">And for I-League I think that will happen. Specially if we want to keep I-League U20 at the national level as well. Reduce travel costs etc.</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div><br></div>
<div style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: normal; ">You do have a point. </div><div style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: normal; ">But like you said , their are leagues and clubs in <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; font-size: 10pt; "> 'Nagaland, Mizoram, Goa, West Bengal (to name a few)'. But they are not really getting the opportunity to have competition outside of their state. </span></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: normal; "><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; font-size: 10pt; ">THe i - league is a league, hence there can;t be many teams in it. THe absence of a 'national' knockout cup has been buggin me for a while. India needs national competitions to take advantage of its population.</span></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-family: Arial, Verdana; line-height: normal; "><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Geneva, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; font-size: 10pt; ">If a tournament like this happens, we fans can have the opperutnity to actually unbiasly compare football in different parts of the country. Players will get exposure and get better. maybe the old folks in assosiations and corporations also get encouragemnt to do something as their clubs will have something to fight for after the leagues.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; "><font face="Geneva, Lucida Sans Unicode, tahoma, sans-serif" size="2"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Maybe leagues and clubs in other states will come up if they are interested to participate in such tournamnet in future. As for the quality , it can only do good for football across the country.</span></font></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font face="Geneva, Lucida Sans Unicode, tahoma, sans-serif" size="2"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br></span></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font face="Geneva, Lucida Sans Unicode, tahoma, sans-serif" size="2"><span style="line-height: 18px;">WOn't you actually need a model like this to actually solve those problems</span></font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: left; "><font face="Geneva, Lucida Sans Unicode, tahoma, sans-serif" size="2"><span style="line-height: 18px;"> And this setup may even increase the popularity of the Durand Cup, which is , definetely, in need of it.</span></font></span></div><div><br></div> :-/ :-/
<font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">I agree. I do think keep the Durand Cup name. It has history and once we get the cup back up then we could use the history to our advantage. </font><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">As for the idea. Again it is good but again we only have a few states with proper leagues. What your suggesting is that we make a cup with the champion or top teams from all 28 states (+1... Delhi) and add I-League teams to make an FA Cup but there is still the major problem of states not having leagues or proper ones. We are only just seeing newly revamped versions of the Calcutta Football League. We are only now seeing the NPL and MPL come up. We are only starting to slowly increase popularity but we should also be patient. At this moment a cup like that is not possible and probably not necessary for this point in time. Maybe in 5-10 years but I dont see it now. Again excellent suggestion but I dont see how it can get done now.</font></div>
<font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">I agree. I do think keep the Durand Cup name. It has history and once we get the cup back up then we could use the history to our advantage. </font><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">As for the idea. Again it is good but again we only have a few states with proper leagues. What your suggesting is that we make a cup with the champion or top teams from all 28 states (+1... Delhi) and add I-League teams to make an FA Cup but there is still the major problem of states not having leagues or proper ones. We are only just seeing newly revamped versions of the Calcutta Football League. We are only now seeing the NPL and MPL come up. We are only starting to slowly increase popularity but we should also be patient. At this moment a cup like that is not possible and probably not necessary for this point in time. Maybe in 5-10 years but I dont see it now. Again excellent suggestion but I dont see how it can get done now.</font></div>
<br><div><br></div><div><br></div> \m/ <div>Yeah u r right, and thanks for the time ! i would really like to see aiff and IMG make something like this happen soon but t will take time , not just the 'IPL style 8 team tournament, and hope to hear names of more leagues in india these years to come. (.... and I was only suggesting the top state leagues to be part of the idea (kinda like the afc champions league only taking pro asian league clubs:) ))</div><div><br></div>
<font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">I agree. I do think keep the Durand Cup name. It has history and once we get the cup back up then we could use the history to our advantage. </font><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">As for the idea. Again it is good but again we only have a few states with proper leagues. What your suggesting is that we make a cup with the champion or top teams from all 28 states (+1... Delhi) and add I-League teams to make an FA Cup but there is still the major problem of states not having leagues or proper ones. We are only just seeing newly revamped versions of the Calcutta Football League. We are only now seeing the NPL and MPL come up. We are only starting to slowly increase popularity but we should also be patient. At this moment a cup like that is not possible and probably not necessary for this point in time. Maybe in 5-10 years but I dont see it now. Again excellent suggestion but I dont see how it can get done now.</font></div>
<br><div><br></div><div><br></div> \m/ <div>Yeah u r right, and thanks for the time ! i would really like to see aiff and IMG make something like this happen soon but t will take time , not just the 'IPL style 8 team tournament, and hope to hear names of more leagues in india these years to come. (.... and I was only suggesting the top state leagues to be part of the idea (kinda like the afc champions league only taking pro asian league clubs:) ))</div><div><br></div>
<br><div><br></div><div>Now that is possible but I feel if we were to do a "only top state leagues" thing then it would be better for I-League 2nd Division.</div>
<h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="5">The Dutch coaches in India must develop youth football – Ruud Gullit</font></h1><div><p style="color: rgb(26, 39, 50); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Ruud Gullit, who is in Kolkata on a two day visit, stated that in order for India to be recognized in the sphere of football, there is a dire need to focus on improving the game at the youth level.</p><p style="color: rgb(26, 39, 50); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">With Wim Koevermans, who was Gullit’s team-mate in the Netherlands squad which won the 1988 European Championship, being appointed as the head coach of the Indian national team not long ago and Rob Baan, another Dutchman, having the task of coming up with a master plan to develop the beautiful game in the country, the former European Footballer of the Year believes that under the tutelage of his countrymen, India can make definite improvements saying, “If you ain't Dutch, it ain't much.”</p><p style="color: rgb(26, 39, 50); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; ">“I think Indian football is in good hands. The most important for these coaches is to develop youth football because that is where it all starts. It's important to have training facilities, the pitches.</span>
</p><p style="color: rgb(26, 39, 50); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; ">"Every club there has an amateur team and each team has about three or four pitches. For this reason, every kid has got the opportunity to play in the pitches," Gullit told the media.</p><p style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; ">“So you have to first think of building pitches, the artificial ones because of the weather."</p></p></div><div><a href="http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/136/india/2012/07/29/3273242/the-dutch-coaches-in-india-must-develop-youth-football-ruud">http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/136/india/2012/07/29/3273242/the-dutch-coaches-in-india-must-develop-youth-football-ruud</a>;
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<h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><font size="5">The Dutch coaches in India must develop youth football – Ruud Gullit</font></h1><div><p style="color: rgb(26, 39, 50); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Ruud Gullit, who is in Kolkata on a two day visit, stated that in order for India to be recognized in the sphere of football, there is a dire need to focus on improving the game at the youth level.</p><p style="color: rgb(26, 39, 50); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">With Wim Koevermans, who was Gullit’s team-mate in the Netherlands squad which won the 1988 European Championship, being appointed as the head coach of the Indian national team not long ago and Rob Baan, another Dutchman, having the task of coming up with a master plan to develop the beautiful game in the country, the former European Footballer of the Year believes that under the tutelage of his countrymen, India can make definite improvements saying, “If you ain't Dutch, it ain't much.”</p><p style="color: rgb(26, 39, 50); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; ">“I think Indian football is in good hands. The most important for these coaches is to develop youth football because that is where it all starts. It's important to have training facilities, the pitches.</span>
</p><p style="color: rgb(26, 39, 50); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></p><p style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; ">"Every club there has an amateur team and each team has about three or four pitches. For this reason, every kid has got the opportunity to play in the pitches," Gullit told the media.</p><p style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; ">“So you have to first think of building pitches, the artificial ones because of the weather."</p><p></p></div><div><a href="http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/136/india/2012/07/29/3273242/the-dutch-coaches-in-india-must-develop-youth-football-ruud">http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/136/india/2012/07/29/3273242/the-dutch-coaches-in-india-must-develop-youth-football-ruud</a>;
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<br><br>he is the____________________th (enter the no.) person to say the above things.<br>
Comments
<br><div>agree,t<span style="font-size: 10pt; ">he fact that 3 of 4 euro cup semifinalist have top clubs whose b teams play in lower league states the success rate of this idea....</span></div><div>In current time, i think even goan teams play their b team in goan league and not their 1st team players which is the thing needed to be present all over the country</div><div><br></div><div>and also with that a need for reserve league could be avoided and still the pipeline for senior team looks intact</div>
<br><div><br></div><div>Its good but a little to ahead of its time. I do believe that something like this should happen soon but for now I dont think so. Mainly because most club sides in states other than Nagaland, Mizoram, Goa, West Bengal (to name a few) are...</div><div><br></div><div>A) Not in state leagues but in city leagues (Yes I know West Bengal is Calcutta)</div><div><br>B) Most clubs are 100% corporate clubs in which the players only come from the company. Plus the level of skill they have will be greatly outnumbered.</div><div><br></div><div>C) Greatest reason of all... not every state has a state league. Some states dont have a league, some dont have a proper league. Some dont even have proper players.</div><div><br></div><div>Until we solve this (which wont be for a few years) than I cant see a model like yours work. It is great but ahead of its time.</div>
</font><br><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Exactly. Plus I dont see a Reserve League working. I will use the Premier Reserve League (Premier League Reserve League) and MLS Reserve League as examples. </div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Premier Reserve League can work because of England's small size and the amount of clubs they have which make division simple. MLS Reserve League is like us, in a big country with not enough teams to really divide. So far the MLS Reserve League has been hit by this hard and before it ran from 2005-2008 then 2010-present but could be disbanded again due to many travel problems etc. </div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">And for I-League I think that will happen. Specially if we want to keep I-League U20 at the national level as well. Reduce travel costs etc.</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br></div><div><br></div>
<br><div><br></div><div><br></div> \m/ <div>Yeah u r right, and thanks for the time ! i would really like to see aiff and IMG make something like this happen soon but t will take time , not just the 'IPL style 8 team tournament, and hope to hear names of more leagues in india these years to come. (.... and I was only suggesting the top state leagues to be part of the idea (kinda like the afc champions league only taking pro asian league clubs:) ))</div><div><br></div>
<br><div><br></div><div>Now that is possible but I feel if we were to do a "only top state leagues" thing then it would be better for I-League 2nd Division.</div>
</p><p style="color: rgb(26, 39, 50); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; ">"Every club there has an amateur team and each team has about three or four pitches. For this reason, every kid has got the opportunity to play in the pitches," Gullit told the media.</p><p style="font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 17.27272605895996px; ">“So you have to first think of building pitches, the artificial ones because of the weather."</p></p></div><div><a href="http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/136/india/2012/07/29/3273242/the-dutch-coaches-in-india-must-develop-youth-football-ruud">http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/136/india/2012/07/29/3273242/the-dutch-coaches-in-india-must-develop-youth-football-ruud</a>;
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<br><br>he is the____________________th (enter the no.) person to say the above things.<br>