Kochi Football Club
Varun Kochi
3 Points
There are two states in our country where passion for soccer knows no bounds. One is, of course, West Bengal; the other is my native state, Kerala. However, here is a huge difference in the way the game is run in the two pockets.
Kolkata boasts of century-old clubs that have survived against all odds. Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting have their own legions of fans. In God's own country, there are hardly any clubs that the soccer fanatics of the state can identify themselves with. The coconut trees among the picturesque lagoons have, in fact, only seen the death of many a bold dream.
FC Kochi is one such dream.
Kochi was celebrated as the first professional club of the country and it certainly was. So much so, that even after being key members of the JCT squad that annexed the inaugural National Football League title in 1996-97, Jo Paul (Ancheri), Carlton (Chapman) and I agreed to shift base to Kochi the following year. Mind you, Kochi was conceptualised and came into existence that very year and had't even gained the right to play in the NFL. At least, at that time. Even Baichung was interested in joining the club but Ranjit Gupta (former IFA secretary) ensured that he went back to East Bengal.
There was only one problem though: FC was a one-man show. It was P.V. Paul's baby. But he had the vision to look forward. He created an amazing atmosphere in the club. He aimed for things that even the Kolkata clubs could only aspire for.
He ensured that all the players were insured; it is still an unfulfilled dream in Indian soccer. He promised to treat a player with respect and pay him his full salary if he sustained an injury on the field. Just look at the other extreme: Last season, Baichung was fielded in crunch matches by Mohun Bagan even though he was carrying an injury. Eventually he couldn't play for quite some time. And he has still not been paid his dues, for no fault of his.
The first year was great. Paul, perhaps, had more money to spend than the club needed. NRIs from the Gulf pumped in huge sums. He also managed to rope in Kalyani Black Label as sponsors. We beat Mohun Bagan 3-1 in the Durand final in front of a packed Ambedkar Stadium. I still remember newspaper reports that the gates had to be shut two hours prior to the kick-off. Everybody wanted to see us play.
But after the meteoric rise, came the fall. Ironically, it was all due to lack of funds. Everything mysteriously vanished. Looking back, I feel that everything in Kochi was done in a hurry. Paul hardly had anything left for the future and struggled to run the club the very next year itself. Soon, the star footballers left and Kochi was in doldrums. Jo Paul and I came back the following year, merely as a goodwill gesture. But we are yet to get our dues. I know that many from the last batch of Kochi too haven't received anything.
Actually, sponsorship is a big problem in Indian football. The UB Group is the primary sponsor today. Maybe, it didn't get enough mileage from Kochi. It also didn't help that Star Sports pulled out its television plans as the NFL was forcing it to concentrate on Kolkata.
I still believe that the withdrawal of television coverage was the greatest blunder in Indian soccer history. ESPN and Star had just been launched in India at that time. It was important to strike a good deal with them. The AIFF failed. And it has been cricket all the way on Indian TV since then.
The warning bells should have been heard when Mohammedan Sporting almost sailed into oblivion for a decade because of financial constraints. One has to understand that well-wishers cannot run a club. Only sponsors can. Now that they have found a few sponsors, they can again dream big. I wish them good luck.
Believe me, the top players still have a soft corner for Kochi. But we are all professionals today. Nobody will risk a whole year if he is scared getting his dues in the end. I hope Paul realises that everything is not lost. He should draw inspiration from Sporting's revival.
Kolkata boasts of century-old clubs that have survived against all odds. Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting have their own legions of fans. In God's own country, there are hardly any clubs that the soccer fanatics of the state can identify themselves with. The coconut trees among the picturesque lagoons have, in fact, only seen the death of many a bold dream.
FC Kochi is one such dream.
Kochi was celebrated as the first professional club of the country and it certainly was. So much so, that even after being key members of the JCT squad that annexed the inaugural National Football League title in 1996-97, Jo Paul (Ancheri), Carlton (Chapman) and I agreed to shift base to Kochi the following year. Mind you, Kochi was conceptualised and came into existence that very year and had't even gained the right to play in the NFL. At least, at that time. Even Baichung was interested in joining the club but Ranjit Gupta (former IFA secretary) ensured that he went back to East Bengal.
There was only one problem though: FC was a one-man show. It was P.V. Paul's baby. But he had the vision to look forward. He created an amazing atmosphere in the club. He aimed for things that even the Kolkata clubs could only aspire for.
He ensured that all the players were insured; it is still an unfulfilled dream in Indian soccer. He promised to treat a player with respect and pay him his full salary if he sustained an injury on the field. Just look at the other extreme: Last season, Baichung was fielded in crunch matches by Mohun Bagan even though he was carrying an injury. Eventually he couldn't play for quite some time. And he has still not been paid his dues, for no fault of his.
The first year was great. Paul, perhaps, had more money to spend than the club needed. NRIs from the Gulf pumped in huge sums. He also managed to rope in Kalyani Black Label as sponsors. We beat Mohun Bagan 3-1 in the Durand final in front of a packed Ambedkar Stadium. I still remember newspaper reports that the gates had to be shut two hours prior to the kick-off. Everybody wanted to see us play.
But after the meteoric rise, came the fall. Ironically, it was all due to lack of funds. Everything mysteriously vanished. Looking back, I feel that everything in Kochi was done in a hurry. Paul hardly had anything left for the future and struggled to run the club the very next year itself. Soon, the star footballers left and Kochi was in doldrums. Jo Paul and I came back the following year, merely as a goodwill gesture. But we are yet to get our dues. I know that many from the last batch of Kochi too haven't received anything.
Actually, sponsorship is a big problem in Indian football. The UB Group is the primary sponsor today. Maybe, it didn't get enough mileage from Kochi. It also didn't help that Star Sports pulled out its television plans as the NFL was forcing it to concentrate on Kolkata.
I still believe that the withdrawal of television coverage was the greatest blunder in Indian soccer history. ESPN and Star had just been launched in India at that time. It was important to strike a good deal with them. The AIFF failed. And it has been cricket all the way on Indian TV since then.
The warning bells should have been heard when Mohammedan Sporting almost sailed into oblivion for a decade because of financial constraints. One has to understand that well-wishers cannot run a club. Only sponsors can. Now that they have found a few sponsors, they can again dream big. I wish them good luck.
Believe me, the top players still have a soft corner for Kochi. But we are all professionals today. Nobody will risk a whole year if he is scared getting his dues in the end. I hope Paul realises that everything is not lost. He should draw inspiration from Sporting's revival.
Comments
THE NIGHT'S YOUNG The Nehru Stadium all set to welcome the IPL party
The galleries were all packed, the chairs too. But they kept coming…and coming. Seeing the stands full, the surging fans pushed their way through and, suddenly, they began dropping from the stands and onto the ground.
In their hundreds! And they crowded around the sidelines too.
Kochi went bonkers that April evening as football fans rushed to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for the India-Iraq semifinal of the Eider Nehru Cup in 1997. It was a gloomy evening, dark clouds hovered over the stadium but the ambience, under lights, was surreal. The stadium really roared that night.
Fourteen years have gone away in a flash but the scene is still fresh in one's mind. According to some estimates, the crowd at the ground that day was around 1.20 lakh, more than double the stadium's capacity.
Passion for football ran high those days and FC Kochin, the country's first professional football club, was born around that time.
As Kochi gets ready for some exciting night games once again, this time for cricket's glitzy and high funda Indian Premier League, things appear to be more organised now. Everything seems to be under control.
Anxious apprehension
Still, there is some anxious apprehension in many minds too.
A big, curious crowd is expected for the Kochi Tuskers' IPL opener, against Royal Challengers Bangalore, on April 9. And for the following match too, against M.S. Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings a few days later, especially after the Indian team's heady run in the ICC World Cup.
But will the crowds keep coming back, after the initial hype, after the early curiosity, match after match, for all the five IPL games?
“It all depends on the team's performance,” said Abhishek Hegde, the burly Kerala Ranji cricketer who is popular for his IPL-style bang-bang batting. “But I guess there will a full house for the opener because it's happening for the first time.”
Given a choice to pick two games from the teams playing here, which ones would he go for?
“I'll go for Knight Riders (Kolkata) and CSK (Chennai Super Kings),” said the 23-year-old from Kochi.
Battle of Kolkata!
And which one does he think would be the best game to watch?
“Our game against Kolkata.”
And will Tuskers move town if the Kochi crowd falls below expectations after the midway mark in the five-match series in the city?
“I don't think that will ever happen,” said Abhishek.
But shifting base appears to be a very common thing in football. The State Bank of Travancore, which had its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, moved to Kozhikode for its I-League games six years ago because it felt it got a better response from the State's northern districts.
A.M. Sreedharan, a former assistant national coach who has helped football clubs like FC Kochin and Viva Kerala to some of their most memorable moments, has been a ‘house hunter' quite often in his career.
Since Viva Kerala did not have a ground for its home matches in Kochi, Sreedharan, its coach, went from place to place, first to Kozhikode and then to Kannur. “Football is vanishing day by day,” said Sreedharan, a former Kerala Police coach during some of its most memorable years. “Our performance is going down and when people see the matches live, they are very disappointed. Even in Kannur, the crowd for Viva Kerala's I-League matches is very thin. But the timings, 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. starts, are also to blame.
“The infrastructure is poor in Kerala, it hasn't changed much in the last 20 years and players are not treated like professionals.”
The beautiful game
Sreedharan was the coach of FC Kochin, the country's first professional club, when it came into being soon after the 1997 Nehru Cup in Kochi. And it was a time when the people of Kerala loved football and followed the game's stars passionately.
“Those days, when FC Kochin played Mohun Bagan or East Bengal in Kochi, I remember there used to be traffic blocks all the way to Aluva, because fans were coming in buses and jeeps to watch our team play.”
It was a time when Cochin had some of Indian football's finest gems ever, like I.M. Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri, in its team and National Premier League had just taken off.
The big difference
“Cricket is a crowd-puller and however small the championship is with very few countries playing, our cricketers are still playing in the World Cup and doing well too, so I think the IPL will thrive,” said Sreedharan, who quit Viva Kerala a few months ago after the national body AIFF insisted that only coaches with an AFC license could coach I-League teams.
“Cricket officials are professionals, they are creative and they know how to market it. That's what separates cricket from football,” said the coach who has seen the game's heavenly highs and painful lows during a three-decade long coaching career.
“Even now, Indians, and especially in Kerala, people love football, they love to watch big games on TV. But right now, our national team is way down, even in Asia. Am sure, if we start doing well, the crowds will all come back. I want to see that day.”
Despite the IPL's lure of the night, the football fan dreams on.
*http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lessons-from-the-rise-and-fall-of-FC-Kochi/articleshow/23560.cms
* <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hindu.com/mp/2011/04/04/stories/2011040450190400.htm"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.hindu.com/mp/2011/04/04/stor ... 190400.htm</a><!-- m -->
But a great news for Kerala football is that IPL team Kochi Tuskers has been disbanded by BCCI. Also I heard that Kerala football league is starting. Do you have any idea whether FC Kochi exists now?
sad to say but i don't have any idea.
atleast varun has put in his photo.
Exactly. I think the Kerala Football Association should just hold off from the Kerala League and have a meeting to try an revamp Kerala Football. I remember reading how Kerala was one if not the best state to go for football but now Kolkata and Goa have taken over with the North-East and Mumbai along with Pune very close to overtaking Kerala in footballing popularity.
I have suggested that they make a new club for Kerala as I still don't like Chirag United Club Kerala. Maybe you could name a new club FC Kochin or Viva Kerala again and use former and current Keralian footballers to help. Also make a brand new state league. The Kerala Premier League maybe and use cities like Kochin and Thiruvananthapuram to help. There is some hope. The leaders of the Kerala Association just need to be smart.