Indian Football: Indications of Right Direction

For the first time in the history of Subroto Cup scouts of clubs have been witnessed. 15 players from the under-17 group have been reported to be called for trials by various clubs plying their trade in the I-League. Subroto cup was conceptualised to primarily unearth the existing talents at the school level and to encourage the young talents to be competitive. With the exception of Bhaichung Bhutia no other marquee player has been spotted via this tournament. However, the fault does not lie with the tournament but rather lies in the structure of club football in India and the mind-set of those governing it. Indian mind-set is such that it looks for profit before it invests. So was the case with most of the major clubs who did not want to invest in nurturing talented players but rather invested in established players who they think would deliver the desired results. Due to this the government’s initiative and investment in nurturing talent through the Sports Authority of India did not pay any dividend and failed miserably.

India was one of the most powerful footballing nations in Asia till the early 1970s. They were the Asian champions and had even done well in the Olympics. The spread and rise of cricket pushed it to the sidelines. Now new excitement and enthusiasm among the football lovers is being witnessed. The new mood is to a large extent a contribution of globalisation and cable television. Players of European clubs have become household names and the rags to riches stories of some have helped many in India to visualise a success stories for themselves. As football is seen as an area of market extension with unbound profit making potential, corporates and businessmen are lining up to invest in clubs. Memorandum of understanding with different European clubs, especially English clubs are being signed.one of the areas of such partnership is for opening football schools. Liverpool and Manchester United have already opened schools in collaboration with other Indian clubs or business franchises. All these have led to the commodification of a social capital.

What this has subsequently done is, it has brought about professionalism in Indian football. I-League has been going on for more than a decade now but not until recently the All India Football Federation had urged the major clubs to fulfil the norms of professionalism. Basic minimum facilities were absent in the field, players contracts were not respected, salaries of the players were not paid and under payment of the agreed amount was the norm. This discrepancies in wage payment led to the establishment of players association to fight the battles against the clubs who had till now dominated and exploited the players. To make matters worse national league was started without making any improvement in the existing structure of the game and its governing body. In haste to start the national league and to not let go the lucrative deal with the television channel licenses to the clubs were provided without examination of the fulfillment of the required conditions.

Things have started to change. All the clubs have been warned to fulfill all the conditions required to get the license under the guidance of Asian Football Confederation. Only one club is close to satisfy all the requirements and others have been asked to do so within a stipulated time frame. If this happens then Indian football, in terms of its skill and marketability, will be able to fulfill the potential which many optimistically argues it to possess.

In this context the presence of scouts in Subroto Cup matches makes sense. Many football fanatics wants to take the game in the right direction which over the years has been hampered by the big club syndicates and the political mileage the President of the AIFF gains without doing anything worth mentioning for the benefit of the game. If such steps of spotting talents at the school level tournaments and the proposal of having university league from which players will be given a chance to represent some of the I-league clubs are taken seriously and sincerely then Indian football may again rise to its erstwhile position in Asian Football. When a country like Tahiti can make it to the elite Confederation Cup, with its limited resources and population, football lovers in India can also dream of such achievement, if the clubs and the governing bodies at different level of the structure acts in a dedicated, determined and disciplined manner and supports such initiatives and further expands the initiative of scouting talents. 

The Father of Modern Gorkhaland Movement turns into a Stepfather

On that Sunday, I was as usual honing my football skills, when I heard shouts of many people. Running to see what the matter was I could only see serpentine line of vehicles with black flags but I was too young to make a sense of it. Returning home I could over hear some older people talking about Gorkhaland. For the first time in my young life I was introduced to an issue that would remain with me for the entire life. It was in 1986 that I was introduced to the demand of Gorkhaland as a young school going kid and the issues of identity and our status in India. My young mind could grasp the importance of it even then and was excited, enthusiastic about participating in the movement and have done in my own way.

This was the phase of ‘Modern Gorkhaland Movement’ and the father of the movement was none other than Subhas Ghising. He was loved and treated like a demi god by one and all for raising the issue. The issue of Gorkhaland was raised by other political parties before him as well but none were successful in mobilising the entire hill population and resisting the CPM and its brutality like him. Ghising was able to organise the movement and give proper structure to it. Men, Women, Youth, Students all participated in the movement under the aegis of GNLF. Every individual in the hills (except the CPM cadres) participated and supported the movement in their own ways. The contribution has been immense.

Ghising enjoyed unprecedented support and was able to motivate and mobilise people with his inspirational speeches and deeds. There was not a single soul who doubted his leadership. People went hungry but made sure that the 40 days bandh called by GNLF was a success. People challenged the CRPF and fought them with little or no resources only for the creation of Gorkhaland and more importantly because they thought that Ghising would not fail to deliver his promise. In this endeavour people lost their lives, property, loved ones and youth. Officially the loss of lives was conservatively estimated to be 1200, but there have been many unaccounted loss of lives and crores of rupees worth of property not for any other cause but for the cause of Gorkhaland. However, Ghising did not deliver his promise and left the people low on confidence and self-belief. What he did has instead dented the solidarity and peacefulness of the region.

For Ghising the metamorphosis from being the father of Modern Gorkhaland Movement to being a stepfather started with the signing of the tripartite agreement with the state and the central government for the creation of DGHC in 1988. DGHC was an arrangement to stop the century old movement for the creation of homeland for the Gorkhas. It was not constitutionally recognised and no constitutional amendment took place and neither did it have any executive nor legislative powers worth mentioning. Any power that was vested upon it was only attempts to eye wash the folks of the hills. The years of sacrifices people had made and the aspirations people had was lost with that signature on the dotted line. The process of transformation to stepfather gathered momentum with the issue of sixth schedule for Darjeeling hills which many individuals in the hills vehemently opposed and took it as a betrayal on the part of Ghising and GNLF for their loyalty and support towards them. As a stepfather, he did not accept any dissent and voice of discontentment from anyone, from within and outside the party, leading to political victimization and murder of leaders. During his reign there was chaos, might was right, in short Darjeeling was in a barbaric stage.

The power got into his head and from being a charismatic leader with authority he soon transformed into a traditional authority. The party and the patriarch became undemocratic. Democratic space in the hills of Darjeeling was systematically squeezed until it became non-existent. Dissent and opposition was crushed with heavy hand. The political discourse in Darjeeling under the stepfather was destined to become an utter failure. And it did fail. DGHC had become defunct and only Ghising remained as a caretaker. As all despots and dictators Ghising did not understand that his sway over the public and Darjeeling no more existed.

He became the absolutely loathed and ostracized stepfather when he failed to support a local boy participant in a reality TV show when the public at large saw his participation as an issue of ethnicity and identity. The pride and ego led to his eventual downfall. The stepfather was shown the door, never to return, by the family.

Like a stepfather full of vengeance he has been plotting strategies to dampen the renewed enthusiasm, hope and aspiration of his family to achieve the long desired goal of Gorkhaland. By floating the GNLF again he is trying to break the collective consciousness and solidarity of the gorkha community. He is doing his best to unsettle and confuse the people. He is doing all this, and mind you, under the guidelines of the parties who are against the creation of Gorkhaland and have time and again reiterated collectively that West Bengal will not be divided. If not then he would not have been staying in the rented house in jalpaiguri amidst the people with whom he, throughout his political career, was at loggerhead.

The large family which dispossessed him should beware the stepfather and his designs, as he is trying to hit back a hit back hard. Stepfather has found some space among those who could not gain materially from the new family structure. The gorkha family will do itself good if the stepfather and his cohort, the GNLF, who are at the moment confused when every individual is euphoric at the positive prospect of their long cherished dream coming true, is outrightly rejected and not allowed to dictate terms once again and be visible in the vicinity of the house, as it was them who took away 25 years of our life, dignity, development and movement.

  

The Roots of United Kurseong Football Club

United Kurseong Football Club, popularly known as UKFC, was established by a group of young people, some who had barely walked out of school and some who had just walked into the threshold of college. All these young men had one thing in common, the immense love for the beautiful game of football and the immense desire to do well in the field. Many of these young folks had dreamt of becoming professionals, represent clubs in the ‘Mecca of Indian football’, Kolkata, erstwhile Calcutta, and possibly represent the national team. Such was the desire and ambition of the bunch of young fellows who were the founders of UKFC.

However, to put things into perspective UKFC was not born out of nowhere. These guys had played together at many junior tournaments. (At that time, to be precise before the Gorkhaland Agitation disrupted the social life in the hills of Darjeeling, many junior tournaments used to happen. The only criterion to qualify was the height specified by the organisers). So when these players had grown up to participate at the senior level tournaments, the agitation had disrupted all these tournaments. Subsequently participation in any of these tournaments was difficult. Sunagava Sporting Club was one of the most popular and strong team of Kurseong prior to the agitation days and their players were all household names. So when for the first time after the agitation Independence Cup was being held, all decided to join this club so that we would play together as a team. However, the senior players were reluctant to concede their places to these players who had not yet established themselves, as a result on a few made it to the team. Meanwhile the newly formed Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, initiated ‘Inter Constituency Football Tournament. It was the fortune of all these young guys that they were from the same constituency and their selection was inevitable. Some other players were also selected and the Kurseong team performed really well and could have done better with a little bit of experience.    

After this tourney some of the players with whom these young guys gelled while offered them to be part of their club, Naya Bazar Sporting Club and promised that all would be treated at par and no privileges would be conferred upon the senior players. This attracted this group. However, after a few months it was noticed that there was differences of opinion among the office bearers of the club. The better players, of NBSC, who wanted to play the game of football at the best possible level and whose opinion matched with the group, together decided to forfeit the membership of this club and form a new club. Now, and new club Supernova was established entirely by the players with the help of some officials of the NSBC, who thought that they could be in a better position with us, with some other enthusiast. However, this club had some locality centric officials and wanted the club to be their representative. This created a cleavage in the club. The unhappiness among the members of the group who had greater ambitions and desires now decided that they would form a club representing the entire town of Kurseong and UKFC was established.

When the club was established in 1991, however, officially it is dated as 1989 to honour the contributions of many who were not part of the club when it was officially registered, it did not have any fund. The club had entered a tournament at Rangu, a small cinchona plantation village. The organizers had promised that on winning the tournament some money would be given to the winners. The lure of the money and the possibility of winning the tournament and also to test the team, before the very big Mahakal Tournament in Darjeeling, the team had entered into the fray.  As expected the team did very well defeating the rivals by big margins and reached the finals. However, on the eve of the finals it was informed that the organizers would not give any money to the winners of the tournament. The team left the village without playing the finals.

The club was accused of being money driven and wanted to blackmail the sentiments of the people. However, it needs to be clarified here that the organizers had promised money, but when the team was informed about the absence of money, the officials of the team had requested the organizers to arrange for vehicles after the finals so that we could reach our base the same day. Why the team insisted on this was the fact that the next day after the final match, the first round match of the team in the Mahakal Tournament was scheduled. It was a very big tournament for the club not because famous clubs were participating but because the winners of the tournament would be richer by 200,000 rupees. Till then probably it was the only tournament in the entire country to pay so much of much of money to the winners. As a newly established club with huge ambitions, it was decided by the entire contingent on the floor of the school building which was provided to the club as their room by the organizers in Rangu, to be much more precious than participating in the finals.

Though the club did not win the final, reaching the semi finals of that tournament was a huge step towards fulfilling the set desire. Soon, the club started winning almost all tournaments it played. The highlight of the club’s achievement being defeating the team from Hitauda, Nepal, as the actual team was the Nepal U-23 team which had just returned from Germany where it had undergone training (This can be disputed as everyone has their own pick regarding the greatest victories). Other was, to name only a few, receiving invitation from the coach of the Indian national team to play a friendly game with them in Darjeeling and Malda Sports Association inviting the club to play an exhibition game with East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting Club.

The team went on from strength to strength and also started paying attention to its administration. It roped in senior players like Ranjit Gurung as the President of the club and Dhurba Jung Tewari was brought in as Secretary General. They contributed a lot to the club highlight being roping in a sponsorship for the club. They negotiated with Makaibari Tea Estate to sponsor the club and they agreed to give 100,000 rupees every year.

The club managed to reach a certain level of standard with the contribution of Mr. Indra Lama, who took up the mantle of being the club’s first coach. He emphasized on physical fitness and made the players fit enough to run for more than 120 minutes without any hint of tiredness to compensate for the limited technical knowledge of the game. Later came Mr. Shesmani Rumba who stressed on technicalities. Both of them were not qualified coaches but gave us inputs based on their experience of having played the game. Though later Rumba started reading a lot on the technicalities of the game and improved the team tremendously. So the team moved up from one level to the next higher level. One very important thing which the club did was to scout for players. In this endeavour even organized local level tournaments to scout for local talents. Many players came from this endeavour. Megarj Thapa, Santosh Lama Jr. (Cobra), Kishore Pradhan (to name a few) and many others, selected from these tournaments, became part of the team in the years to follow.

The strength of the team was self belief, discipline, dedication and determination which are the values associated with any sports. However, the one thing that stood distinctly that helped the club reach the level was the mutual respect for one another. This helped in building a relationship which later was to be useful in personal life as well. All helped all. The team was like a family with strong bonds and it still exists today. Holistic development of the individual was emphasized. Education was also emphasized, so that people would not have to struggle after their playing days. So many achieved, even if partially, what they had desired and it is a proud part of history for the club.  Deenkar Chettri played for East Bengal, Jeten Rai and Chrispen Chettri went on to represent India under 19 and played for many big clubs of the country. Many of the junior players represented Prayag United in the under 19 league and humbly yours represented Eastern Railways, before going to JNU to study and complete Ph.D. Many got into the army and other police forces and many were helped into getting jobs.

The contributions made by many people are the strength of the club and these contributions are very close to all associated with the club. Ladup Lama, the best stopper back I have played with, Kishore Pradhan, Sagar Lama, Chand Pradhan, the first team manager, and the one loved most by the players, Depen Rai, the most obedient and loyal person I have ever come across in life and a very dear friend who roped in a sponsorship deal from a English person he was guiding in a trek, have made the foundations, on which the club rests, very strong. Their souls can rest in peace as the club is still in the right direction though there have been vested interests trying to defame it.  

(Next will on those people whose contributions have not been recognized outside the club)

The Picture Was Touching Indeed

The Picture Was Touching Indeed

The ongoing Confederations Cup in Brazil has witnessed good football and more importantly protests against the public funds being spent in building the stadiums for the World Cup 2014. The rise in transportation cost and the depleting conditions of social services in the country was what led to the collective anger of the Brazilians. Protests in different cities started with a few people but it soon became a much larger movement and only the intervention and public announcement on television by the President, to address the issues immediately calmed the people. As the announcement to address the concerns raised by the protesters was made by the President, the animosity between the public and the forces of the state, who were not so long ago throwing tear gas and shooting rubber bullets at them, was lost in transition. The picture which many newspapers carried, showing a protester wrapped in the national flag hugging a policeman was very touching indeed. The gesture on part of both the parties involved tells us that they were both working for what they perceived to be a larger good for the society and the nation. Both the parties were making a contribution for the proper functioning of the society.

The timing of the protest could not have been better. The focus of the entire world was on Brazil where the elite eight nations, champions of their respective Confederations (Italy qualified by virtue of being the runner up to Spain, both the world and European champion) along with the host of the world cup were participating for the coveted Confederations Cup. The protest has its genesis sometime in 2007 when the public was saddened by the pathetic conditions of social services in the country and was opposed to the expenditure that the state would incur in hosting the World Cup in 2014. Then the government had promised that the expenditure incurred in the construction of new stadiums and refurbishment of some of the older stadiums would be borne from private funds, but this was not done. The argument put forward by the social activists is that the 14 billion dollars that has been spent till now on the stadiums would be better worth if it was spent on education, health services and for the improvement of other hosts of social services. Even the team members of the national team support these demands and Philpao, the World Cup winning coach, has said that victory would bring unity across the people.

What is interesting is that the protesters love for the beautiful game, the blood line of Brazilians, has not been affected. The stadiums are houseful in all the matches and the atmosphere inside each one of them is electrifying. Of course the violence and vandalism has affected the players and have raised concerns for their security- especially of foreign players (which I personally think is an overreaction from a section of the foreign press- as there has not been a single incidence of any foreigners being targeted). Emotionally and psychologically the players may have been affected but the electrifying atmosphere and the absence of any form of protest inside the stadium has made the players determined to play a good match of football. And goals and victory in football for every Brazilian irrespective of whether he or she is protesting in the streets is of utmost importance. Everyone in Brazil loves football. Football in Brazil brings people together, brings social issues of pressing importance to the forefront and forces the President to negotiate with other political parties to bring reforms in the existing policies.

Till now no damage is done to the stadium and the playing arena, as everyone is aware that once the dispute is settled it is time for samba and football. Football has become a means to achieve those goals which the political parties have not been able to achieve. Every member of the team is aware of the repercussions of the tournament. To undermine the prominence, this tournament has for every Brazilian, Scolari is trying to make the fans believe that this team has not yet reached its zenith and is gradually moving towards its goal, that is winning the World Cup 2014. Winning the World Cup in 2014, which is being hosted for the second time in Brazil, is of paramount salience as they had lost he finals in 1950. That defeat to Uruguay still haunts the Brazilians and winning in 2014 is epitomized by none other than the only 4 time World Cup winner Zagalo. Scolari for sure knows that if he can repeat his 2002 feat achieved in Japan, all the social, economical and political turmoil that the nation is going through will be forgotten and samba and celebration and festivities will again be part of the people. Happiness and aspiration will again be part of the social capital of each and every Brazilian in this universe, which is evidently missing in some socially concerned citizens of the greatest footballing nation in this earth. 

Tahiti Million, Others 24

Tahiti Million, Others 24

Tahiti an unknown entity in the footballing map was part of this Confederations Cup in Brazil. They secured their qualification by virtue of being the Oceania Confederations champions. They won their group scoring many and conceding few goals to the opponents. This team is made up entirely of amateurs in comparison to rest of the seven teams who are thorough professionals. The extent of professionalism of these teams is also evident in the score they have against the minnows from Tahiti. Tahiti lost 6-1 to Nigeria, 10-0 Spain, and 8-0 in their final group game against Uruguay.

The score line however, does not speak about the standard of football they played. To the Tahiti players and also the team management this tournament meant a lot. This was an educational tour for them. As every educational tour is meant for learning and also gives you ample scope for enjoying, this team did exactly that. the moment they entered the stadium for the first match they were busy taking photographs, as they were well prepared for the very difficult lecture that was  to be had at the hands of their illustrious opponents in the next 3 games of 90 minutes each. However, as a student ever willing to learn they asked questions to the professionals whenever they got an opportunity. They were well prepared for the task at hand. They did not try to hide the joy of playing football in such an environment, which could be a once in their life time opportunity . They knew that these 90 minutes would probably change their lives (if spotted by some professional clubs). They did not want to waste a single second of the ninety minutes they would get in the company of these great players and teams. They pulled up their consummate opponents back on their field. They did this in order to keep the ball rolling for all the ninety minutes so that the most beautiful and cherished moments in their lives was  not undone by someone lying on the ground.

Tahiti players and everyone involved in the game of football in this tiny nation in the pacific knew that if a goal could be scored it would be a icing on the cake and were also aware that they did not have anything to lose. They were ready for any kind of eventuality that would come across to them in the field. They had below standard attack, midfield, and defense as compared to their opponents. In such a situation what do most of the teams do is to keep all the men in the third quarter of the field and make it difficult for the opponents to score goals. The brave hearts from Tahiti did not do so as they were also aware that conceding goals would not make any news as scoring goals would and in the ;process they would also get to showcase their talent in an arena they could only dream about till the time they landed in Brazil. Therefore they did not plan in only trying to stop opponents scoring against them but they themselves tried to score and play a very fascinating game. Because of this the talents of all the players were demonstrated in one of the biggest stage in world football, Brazil where flowing passing football is loved and valued by everybody. Cheung Hoe and others stood out. The goalkeepers also made saves which they should and will be proud of. Cheung I believe may have caught the eye of the many scouts present in the stands and will be called if not by the big clubs of Europe but by some smaller clubs of Asia and Australia.

Tahiti played beautiful game. They deserve kudos from everybody for showing courage and not disgracing the game of football by being ultra defensive in their approach and in the process they also score a goal which was applauded by one and all, inside as well as outside the stadium. Everyone cheered their goal and their traveling fans supported their team against all odds. They were happy and supportive of each and every touch their team members had on the ball. They cheered their goalkeeper when he was visibly frustrated to keep up stop the next shot.              

Tahiti came to Brazil to participate in the tournament and everybody who has the slightest of knowledge about football thought them to be the whipping boys for the more skillful opponents but showed courage and were not overwhelmed and overawed by the moment and did what they could do best given the resources and the history they had. They won million of hearts by their willingness to compete and in a fair manner.

 The Victory of 1911: The Forgotten Historical Event

I was in class nine probably when I first heard about the famous victory of Mohun Bagan in 1911. At that time it was for me like any other victory for the giants of Calcutta and the importance of which I could comprehend only in the later years of my life when I became interested in the sociology of sports. Why did I come to know about this victory so late in my life? Had it been an era of globalization where players from different corners of the world are a household names, these greats, who made the mighty English look humble on that day would had become an integral part of our sporting culture.  This article tries to analysis why these greats or the great victory did not become a sporting culture drawing relations with the present day football playing world. 

Football In India

Football is the most popular game in the world. The history of football in India can be traced back to the pre-independent period, when the British people brought the game to the sub-continent when they colonized this country. The initial football matches were played between army teams. With their conquest of the different parts of the country they also popularized football. In particular, it was after the ‘first war of Indian independence’ in 1857 that football began to assume wider social significance in the subcontinent (Burdsey 2007). A number of football clubs in India were soon created, during the British Empire. Playing the game of football is an accessible social activity for the young and hardy men (now it is gaining popularity even among the women). It is a way of socializing with your friends and community members in a recreational way. This requires the minimum of economic and social capital. The game is played extensively in India with the maximum fan following in Goa, Kerala, West Bengal, and the entire North East than in the other parts of the country. Football has its own rich tradition and history in India.

The First Tournament

In 1898, the oldest football tournament in India, and one of the oldest in the world, the Durand Cup commenced in Shimla,. The tournament was named after the then Foreign Secretary of India - Sir Mortimer Durand, who inaugurated it. The Indian Football Association (IFA) came into existence in 1893 and the first IFA shield tournament was played in that year. The teams from the British Army were dominant in the tournament as they were exposed to the game much earlier than the Indians. Apart from this the Indian players also lacked the basic facilities to compete with their British opponents. Sheer determination and the tenacity to stand up against the odds made the victory of 1911 much more cherished for the Indians.

The First Victory

The first victory for footballer of India was registered in 1911, when Mohun Bagan Club won the IFA-Shield Trophy. This victory has secured a special place in the history of football in India, because it was the first occasion that an Indian club had won the trophy. Till then the tournament was always won by the British teams based in India. The salient feature of the victory was at that time India was in the midst of the freedom struggle and anything to do with the ‘disgrace’ of the colonial masters was a victory for the entire nation. This is precisely what happened in the eve of 11 Septeber 1911. The bare footed footballers representing Mohun Bagan defeated their much accomplished rivals from the East Yorkshire Army 2-1 after being down one goal till the 70^th minute. Football in India was introduced as a military pursuit. It was transformed by the emergence of Mohun Bagan. Under constant attack from the established teams of the British Army, Mohun Bagan’s place was assured in the history of football in India, in 1911 when they won the IFA for the first time. At the time, it was the biggest win for any club of India. This is the story of the David slaying the Goliath; it is a story of the have-nots’ triumph over the haves.

As the country was in the midst of the freedom struggle the final match was also represented as being part of the freedom struggle. The power of sport to produce intense passions amongst its followers cannot be overlooked. Football has the ability to elicit highly intense emotions from its spectators. Football is, arguably, the only universal language of the masses and the large crowd gathered to witness history in the making shouted vociferously Bande Mataram, the slogan for freedom. The team was seen as the representation of entire India in its fight against the colonizer. It was the case of ‘us’ versus ‘them.’  The victory was much needed revenge for the people who had gathered to witness the game, against the British, who in any pretense was not lagging behind to embarrass the Indian. Why has such an important event forgotten in the history? What are the reasons for it being not celebrated as any other historical events? The sections below try to analyse such questions.

Post Independence Football

After independence football was very popular in India. There were many strong centers of football like Calcutta (now Kolkata), Hyderabad, Dherandun. The standard of football was always on the rise. India was the team to beat in the entire Asia. Till 1970 the standard of football was relatively high in India. During this period India achieved many feats like the gold in 1951 and 1962 Asian games, fourth place in 1956 Olympics and the bronze medal in 1970 Asian games. The most important recognition of football playing and loving fraternity in India came in 1950 when FIFA, the world football governing body invited to participate in the world cup. After the 70s football in India gradually started to decline as other nations improved and also other nations in Asia started to enter professionalism. India did not improve on the prevailing structure and also remained semi profession which adversely affected the development of the game in India.

1983 Prudential Cup Win

The world cup winning performance by the Indian cricket team also played its part in the decline of football in India. Until then cricket was played by the elites and football was still a game largely attracting people from the lower strata of the society. The dynamics of the game soon changed as many from the rural and poor background also got attracted to cricket. This led to the downfall of football in popularity. Soon the centers of football became centers of cricket. The rural areas which were the feeders for football in India were soon engulfed by the craze for cricket. The unprofessionalism in football structure and the frequently professionalizing cricket was the reason for the decline of football in India. The victory at Lords by the Indian cricket team was the biggest sporting success India had tasted and this led to the tangential rise of cricket. This brought about unprecedented recognition for the game as well as financial benefits to the players which subsequently affected the development of other sports in India.

The Emergence of Global Football Culture

Football is a cultural practice which is rooted deeply in the society. Any change in the society will produce a proportionate change in the game as well. From the 1960s society has changed tremendously. Phrases like modern, postmodern, industrial, postindustrial globalised and individualized has been used to describe the society today. The beautiful game has also been affected and transformed accordingly. The impact of mass media in the lives of the people has been sensational. People look upto the media for all kinds of information. The society has been converted into a mass society. This has also led the people to rely on the mass media for all the sporting activities. In this globalised world mass media has been capable of bringing all the sporting activities to the drawing rooms of the common people. This has made the Indian football lovers to be attuned to the more exciting football tournaments of the world and Europe in particular. The players plying their trade in the lucrative European leagues have become household names as the standard and excitement generated by Indian football teams cannot match that of the European teams. This has led to the decline in the popularity of Indian football within India.

Football has globalised and the dynamics of globalizing is also important to understand the forgetting of the 1911 victory. This transnational dynamics of football has emanated from the clubs driven in large part by the economics and markets.

The media has also been able to make football a market commodity which can be bought, sold and manipulated. Transnational companies have focused in capturing the markets with huge potential for profit making to show cause the achievement of football players and with such potential for profit making India was the automatic choice for many of such companies. The flooding of diverse and different television channels showing the best leagues of the world soon was able to capture the imagination of the people of India. English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Spanish La Liga all are allocated prime time in India for broadcasting which has forced the people to embrace such leagues rather than the I-League. The impact has been so immense that the fan following of the Indian clubs has reduced and local clubs (there are few exceptions like the East Bengal Mohan Bagan derby) to play their matches in empty stadiums. This has become a feature also for local tournaments in many places that use to get their dose of football through these local tournaments. Youths have become xenophobic and they feel proud to wear the jerseys of foreign clubs but not of Indian clubs. Youth wearing such jerseys throng all the corners of India but hardly anybody is seen wearing the jerseys of Indian clubs. Jerseys of the giants of Europe are seen in each and every mall but these malls do not encourage the sale of jerseys of Indian clubs. The entry of private television channels and the companies trading in the paraphernalia of foreign clubs have rubbed off the Indian clubs of any opportunity for commercial activity. The situation of football in contemporary India is that people do not follow club football like in the older days and this has also made difficult to remember and cherish the achievements of clubs.

Conclusion

The 1911victory was looked at as a triumph of Indian football. Then why is it that these players are not recognized or for that matter recognized by only a handful of football fans or this victory which was hailed as the start of the downfall of the British Empire in India has elapsed the mind of the people? Those days were the days of heroics on the field and anybody who were fortuitous to be on the field had the chance to witness these heroics. Today the age of globalization and media has arrived. Every bit of action on the field can be witnessed from the comforts of the drawing rooms. We sit in front of our television sets at home and it gives us the sense of belonging to the team we support. The television sets helps us to build an identity for us which is synergetic to the identity of the team. Therefore today we are aware and conscious of what is happening in the football fields of most parts of the globe and subsequently players belonging to any nation but playing for our beloved club becomes a household names for us. However, during those days when Mohun Bagan won the IFA Shield there were no televisions to bring us the heroics of the 11 barefooted players, to the confines of our drawing rooms. The officials of the football governing body are also to be blamed equally for such a dismal treatment of the heroes who had made the entire ill-treated Indian brethren proud and who could stand as tall as the British in those 90 minutes of history making.

Lessons for Sikkim from Uttarakhand

There is an ongoing debate regarding the devastation this north Indian state has witnessed, as being engineered by the activities of man or an act of nature. However, the overwhelming verdict seems to be that it is the result of human activities.

In this era of globalization, privatization and liberalization economic development has become the paramount concern for everybody even at the cost of social and environmental degradation. Economic development has led to unequal growth leading to the ever widening gap between the haves and the haves not. Environment also has had to pay its own price which has resulted in the loss of natural as well as human resources. Environment has been exploited beyond repair and it has avenged itself in the form of landslides, cloudburst, floods, tsunami and other natural calamities. However, man has shown no respect for environment and nature and has kept on exploiting her without paying any attention to her warnings.  

What has been the most glaring of all forms of environmental exploitation? Is it deforestation, changing the course of the river system thereby damaging the hydrology, construction of dams and restricting the natural flow of water, urbanization and building of roads which the hill slopes of the young Himalayas cannot support? All these are responsible for what has happened in the state of Uttarakhand.

Sikkim is also a small state in the young Himalayas and all the activities mentioned above are taking place to enhance its economic growth and bring about development. The only highway which connects the state of Sikkim to the rest of India is constantly disrupted owing to frequent landslides. The volume of traffic has increased in the state beyond comprehension, a result of  the newly acquired  economic status. This increase in the volume of traffic is not supported by the roads there and to correspond with the growing number of vehicles the road is being constantly widened cutting the fragile slopes of the young Himalayas. This has its collateral damage in the form of deforestation and the loss of very rare species of flora and fauna. Due to the growth of vehicular traffic and its movement the level of pollution is also rising which also has its share on the environmental degradation of the state. The often heard political statement in Sikkim is that the government is trying to make Sikkim another Switzerland but the point being missed is that the former is in the Alps which is far older mountain system and is stable than the young Himalayas therefore the developmental model undertaken has to consider this as well.

Sikkim as many of the other Himalayan states has a huge potential to generate hydro electric power. Therefore it is one of the hot spots where dams are being conceived along with other north eastern states of India. The paradox related to environment and development seen in Sikkim is in line with the arguments made by emerging Green Political theories which have argued that economic growth and environmental crisis are positively related thus greater economic development would call for additional environmental damage (Paterson 2001). The state has embarked upon building dams of different sizes and at different places along the course of river Tista. This has had its own share of environmental degradation. People have been asked to move away from their homes and habitats. The cultural affinity between the people and the place is lost. Water is stored beyond the capacity of the river and during monsoon when there is rainfall water is released beyond the carrying capacity of the river thereby posing danger to the people living near the river banks. Especially the people of Singtam are in a danger of catastrophic event like the one witnessed in Uttarakhand. The area can submerge if anything like what happened in Kalijhora is to happen again. The incident in Rongli, East Sikkim, is another reminder to the people of Sikkim and the government that nature can make this earth a wretched if its warnings are not paid heed to and if it is exploited.

Rapid urbanization also poses a threat to the state. My friend’s mother who visited Sikkim a year ago lamented that Sikkim has become an urban jungle. High rise buildings and concretization of the place is taking place at a rapid pace. Though the government has some policy in place to take mitigate such growth, such constructions are pressurizing the ground below and god forbid that something like the September 18 were to happen again. If that is not taken as a warning there is a huge price to pay for in the future.

The influx of tourist is a good for economic reasons to the state of Sikkim. To accommodate the large number of tourists hotels are being constructed which is adding up to the already fragile ground reality. The inflow of tourist is forcing the state to urbanize more. Gangtok, by virtue of it being the capital of the state has become the center of all forms of urbanization. Huge population growth, concretization and lack of basic amenities have become its characteristic. The concentration of people in one particular place increases its population density and in case of any kind of hazards, both natural and man made, the chances of losses to both lives and property is bound to be heavy.

Luckily for the state of Sikkim there is only river Tista to confront with unlike the state of Uttarakhand where the tributaries of Ganga played havoc. If it is to show its anger like what Mandakini, Bhagirathi and others did in the state of Uttarakhand then Singtam and its people face the utmost danger. Not to mention, Dzongu, the cradle of civilization and identity for the Lepchas is also in the danger of being submerged. All the urban centers in the state vis a vis Gangtok, Singtam, Namchi and Rangpo are in a danger of being destroyed, beyond repair, in event of any earthquake of higher magnitude occurring in the state.

The state needs to be prepared for any kind of untoward incident in the future. Institutions of the state needs to be proactive from now onwards as this is a very possible threat to the state. For being prepared the state has to make use of Sikkim University and especially the Departments of Geography and Natural Resources Management in general and the Department of Earth Sciences in particular, which was envisaged to look after such needs of the state.

  

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