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An Oscar for footballSepp Blatter on Indian football

Tulsidas Balaram: the Golden Boot

of Indian football

Volume 1. Issue 7. April 2012.

PLUS!M P SakeerU-13 Girls’ AFC winThe Very Tough Indian Football Quizand much more!

The Golden Boot of Indian Football: Tulsidas Balaram pg28The Very Tough Indian Football Quiz pg26

An Oscar for Football pg 37U-13 Girls’ AFC win pg 39

Dear Reader,

Dashed hopes occupy centre stage, this month. India’s spring fiasco at the AFC Challenge Cup forms the cover story of the April issue. The leader is by Souvik Naha, who analyses the whys and hows of the debacle that India has had to face on the Asian stage. Isha Panwar reports the events and outcomes of the three matches, all of which saw India being the los-ing side. Abhishek Sah interviews two senior players- Gouramangi Singh and the now retired Mahesh Gawli- and in course of talks, they reveal retrospective thoughts on the state of affairs that led to the disappointment, pointing out that the retirement of key seniors before the tournament has weak-ened the team in the short run.

FIFA President Joseph Blat-ter’s press conference (jointly with the AIFF) where AIFF President Pra-ful Patel has made known India’s bid to host two important tourna-ments has also been covered.

Syed Hamza profiles Churchill Brothers’ midfielder, the 24-year old M P Sakeer from Kerala in the Young Player section of the issue. Meanwhile, we go back in history to revisit the glory days of a colossus of Indian football- Tulsi-das Balaram.

The I League section, by Sajin Padiyath, holds out features on three exciting games of the past month especially the one where Air India drew Mohun Bagan in a telling clash of skills. East Bengal’s desultory performance before the tournament paused for a break and a possible resurgence post-break makes them the subject of the I League Story of the Month.

There are features on the em-phatic win of the U-13 Girls team at the AFC Cup, held in neighbouring Sri Lanka and also on the inspiring Mr. Ashok Rathod who has helped children to face odds in life by starting the OSCAR Foundation, while teaching them to play good football. Notably, his senior boys’ team plays in the second division of the Mumbai Football League. Wishing you a good read!

Aniket Mishra Editor

Editorial Team Isha Panwar K.S. Yashaswini

Editor of Photography Syed Md. Hamza Abhishek Sah

Marketing Modhulika Bose Harshal Agarwal

Contributors Bharathan Chandrasekaran Md. Asim Shaan Novy Kapadia Sajin Padiyath Shounak Purkayastha Souvik Naha Wasi Manazir

TO ADVERTISE CONTACT:E 25 B, Vijay Nagar, Delhi 110 007.

barefoot@sportsjournal.in mail@sportsjournal.in +91 99118 85829

foot notes

Editor Aniket Mishra

Creative Head Neelesh Vineet Saran

Marketing Head Shubham Garg

CONTENTS

The Golden Boot of Indian Football: Tulsidas Balaram pg28The Very Tough Indian Football Quiz pg26

An Oscar for Football pg 37U-13 Girls’ AFC win pg 39

‘No world football without India’- Sepp Blatter pg12

Young Player Profile: MP Sakeer pg10CLICKED BAREFOOT pg 4

What went wrong? pg15Missed Chances and a Forgettable Affair pg18Barefoot with Gouramangi Moirangthem pg21Barefoot with Mahesh Gawli pg24

COVER STORY 2012 AFC CHALLENGE CUP: What Went Wrong?

Story of the Month: East Bengal keeping their title hopes alive pg31Matches of the Month:Air India draw Mohun Bagan pg33Chirag United beat Shillong Lajong pg34East Bengal beat Salgaocar FC pg35

SPECIAL FEATURE THE I-LEAGUE SECTION

CONTENTS

clicked barefoot

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AIFF Technical Director Rob Baan, in Delhi for a camp.

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young player profile

MP Sakeer: Young Player Profile

By Syed Md. Hamza

Hailing from Malappuram district in Kerala, this young lad is fulfilling his family’s dream, and his own, as well, having re-cently been awarded the Kerala Footballer of the Year. Currently playing for Churchill Brothers as a midfielder, Sakeer is one among six children, all of whom play football. All the credit for him making it this far, he says, goes to the ‘atmosphere’ of football at home and his family’s support.

He reveals that it was only after he joined college that he got a decent level of training and hence went on to play for the Kerala U-19 and U-21 teams. After that he joined State Bank of Travancore but always wished to play at a more professional level. It was then that he met Coach Binu George of Vivakerla who guided him and really got the player out of him.

The time when his team got promoted to the national league was a dream come true for him. He reveals that that was the day when he saw football turn even more beautiful.

Joining Churchill was great as the lad won his first trophy

He wants to continue playing in

his own ‘gentle’ way.

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with them soon after joining, and the prize being the Durand Cup, it could only get better from there. The memory of that win is still very fresh, he recalls. Joining Churchill was a big leap forward for him because he got to play with the stars of Indian football. And he is working very hard to stay at their level.

Sakeer idolizes Mesut Özil and though he does not have any plans to try foreign shores yet, he believes that gradually he will mature enough as a player to make the big leagues. For now, he is taking each step at a time and wants to play in Kol-kata from where he has received some offers but has to plan his

next professional move. Sakeer asserts that working hard for success is the key and has re-mained realistic in accepting the fact that if he does not improve his game, no one would likely consider him in the next season.

Upon being asked about his ambition, he expressed his desire to play for the Indian national team as soon as pos-sible and not only play in the big tournaments but also win them for his beloved country. Beyond this, he dreams of becoming the Indian Footballer of the Year and is ready to sweat out for it. He agrees that India lacks the infra-structure facilities at the grass root level which is hampering

the growth of footballers and is a major hurdle which prevents new footballers from coming in. He feels that if small things like good, residential coach-ing camps and more age level competitions are organized, they could greatly change the face of domestic football.

He wants to continue play-ing in his own ‘gentle’ way, as he puts it. And he hopes that read-ers, fans and God will continue to support him in pursuing his dream. The only regret he has is that his parents are not there to see him play but knows that they must be watching.

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report

Sepp Blatter, FIFA President, brought enough wit and hope to charm the India media when he addressed them in early March. Hitting the spot right from the word go, he stressed on India’s role in the development of world football. Even going to the extent of proclaiming that his aim as the “FIFA President stays to establish football in the continent of India.”

The AIFF President Mr. Praful

Blatter says there is no world

football without India

Barefoot reports from the March 9, 2012 press conference held at ITC Maurya, Delhi where FIFA, AIFF and AFC recognised India’s role in

world football.

Patel chose the same occasion to announce India’s bid to host two significant upcoming tourna-ments- the U-17 World Cup 2017 and The World Club Cup 2015. He rightly recognised the sig-nificance of these tournaments for the game in the country. Mr. Patel said that “both the tourna-ments would provide an excel-lent opportunity for our players to rub shoulders with the best of the world.” On India’s current

preparations for the same, he added, “I understand that there are challenges and limitations as well but we will overcome all for the cause of the sport.”

Mr. Blatter, however, chose to maintain silence on whether actually both the tournaments were coming to India. During the course of the visit, Mr. Blat-ter also met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and President Mrs. Pratibha Patil. He stressed

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that it was for the FIFA Execu-tive Committee to decide as the FIFA is a democratic set-up. He lauded India’s efforts in develop-ing the game and cited the set-ting up of FIFA’s regional office in Delhi. “The setting up of the regional and the elite academies are a step in the right direction,” he expressed noting the positive developments for the cause.

“I had called India a sleeping giant when I visited the coun-try in 2007. Now the giant has started to wake up,” he cheekily opined. Also present was Mr. Zhang Jilong, the Acting Presi-dent of the Asian Football Con-federation. Mr. Patel then reiter-ated, “The two bids set a target for the AIFF and the Government of India” who, he reassured, will

work at all costs to overcome the lack of “good infrastructure”. The Prime Minister is a keen party to see India as a “premier foot-balling nation”. “There can be no world football without India,” Mr. Blatter conclusively pointed to which Mr. Patel added-“Nothing can be more inspirational for Indian football.”

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COVERSTORY

cover story

2012 AFC Challenge Cup: What Went Wrong?Souvik Naha writes in hindsight about the debacle that was India’s AFC campaign. A team depleted of reliable seniors, lacking practice and clearly losing cohesion needs to be brought back to the drawing table to have their tactics reworked and on the field, to clock more quality practice hours.

In a dramatic contrast to the triumphant campaign in the previous edition of this tournament, India scored a humiliating exit in the group league, conceding eight goals and having netted none. Hopes were riding high, especially as India had won the same tourna-ment in 2008. The group might have been a difficult one, com-prising the redoubtable North Korea along with Philippines and Tajikistan. But the listless display that our players put up during the three matches surely makes a football fan hang one’s

head in shame. Losing a number of veterans over the last year has hurt the team. The likes of Baichung Bhutia, Mahesh Gawli and Climax Lawrence had shoul-dered the team over the last decade, and the string of depar-tures left a void on the field of play which could not be filled in such a short time. Absence of the consistent Subrata Pal and Jeje disturbed the balance of the side as well. The youngsters need to spend more time on the greens as a unit and as part of their clubs. But more than player shortage, it was the lack of tac-

tics and poor play management which cost India even a graceful exit.

If poor co-ordination and lack of pre-match strategy had caused India’s downfall in the first two matches, they were blown out of the third match because they repeated mistakes. Going into the last match, North Korea were the favourites and it was a given that the Indians would not be able to match them in attack or defense. But Indian players were guilty of so many lapses that after the match Savio Medeira told the press that

Losing a number of veterans over the last year has hurt the team.

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the team lacked spirit and not one of them was willing to put up a determined show. He was thoroughly dismissive of the In-dian players in his press release, much the same way as his Indian predecessors such as Nayeem or P.K. did.

A primary advantage going India’s way in the 2008 AFC Chal-lenge Cup which they won was Bob Houghton’s effective plan-ning. He persuaded the AIFF to bid for hosting the 2008 tourna-ment and planned accordingly. He selected a bunch of players and groomed them to perform particular duties as component of a functional unit. Medeira received a side depleted by retirements and injuries, with relatively less time to plan out ef-fective tactics with the available resources. Lack of proper prac-tice matches hurt in the long run, evidently so as India were playing on foreign soil. Probably Medeira can do better in the fu-

ture when he spends more time with the players, knows them in fuller detail, and devises strate-gies which suit the requirements. Over the last two decades only two of India’s coaches have had long-term stints – the English-men Stephen Constantine (2002-05) and Bob Houghton (2006-2011), and they were relatively more successful in international tournaments than any other coach lately. The AIFF should either hire a foreign coach if they do not trust Indians to be con-tracted for an extended period, or they should give Medeira just enough time to rebuild the team. Recruiting new players should be the primary agenda now.

Bob Houghton’s camps in Dubai or elsewhere improved the team’s performance, but the preparatory camps for this AFC Challenge Cup in Nepal were certainly insufficient as results show. Reliance on too many unfit players proved costly.

The team’s composition has visibly changed over the last few years with more players coming from places like Shillong. Previ-ously it was mainly players from Kolkata or Goa who made the team, and displayed an under-standing gained from playing together in local leagues. It will be the new coach’s responsibil-ity to turn the disparate group of players into a team. Success in the AFC Challenge Cup gives India the chance to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup. The prepara-tion should pan out in such a way that India do not enter the tournaments as spectators, but give themselves a chance to win qualifying rounds. The AIFF, especially the Technical Director of the team- Rob Baan, need to analyse the performance and find out what went wrong in Kathmandu. They should look to avoid similar embarrassments in the future.

A primary advantage going India’s way in the 2008 AFC Challenge

Cup which they won was Bob Houghton’s effective planning.

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cover story

Missed Chances and A Forgettable Affair

India’s disappointing run at the AFC Challenge Cup is exacerbat-ed by the fact that they lost all three matches they were slated

to play, before finally bowing out of the tournament without a single goal to their credit, writes Isha Panwar.

(Based on AIFF Media Releases)

In very pleasant March, Kathmandu’s Dashrath Stadium was poised for encounters between Asia’s football greats. Unfortunately, enthusiastic Indian fans waiting with bated breaths for historical moments to unravel in the little Hima-layan kingdom had nothing much to look forward to, save

one depressing performance after another, after another. The Group B play-offs involving the DPR Korea, Philippines, India and Tajikistan served to display the muster of the smaller nations and their dominance over India, ranked last amongst the four in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rank-ings at 158.

Tajikistan beat India 2-0Akhtam Khamrakulov– 61’ Nuriddin Davronov – 66’

Starting 9th March, India’s

AFC campaign was shaken first by Tajikistan in the second

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match of the Group B encoun-ters. Despite starting very ag-gressively in the first half and also attempting some goals, India couldn’t make the cut. One instance, early in the 16th saw Rocus Lamare trying to convert Syed Rahim Nabi’s cross but was convincingly neutralised by Tajik goalkeeper Alisher Tuy-chiev. Another effort went to naught when skipper Chhetri’s cross into the box was taken by Anthony Pereira but clearly, not well enough as his shot went over and beyond the posts. Until now, it seemed that India were the keener team on the field, their goals only missed because of lack of conversion and not of opportunities.

After half time, though, the Central Asian nation demon-strated who was in charge of the game when Akhtam Kham-rakulov scored on the back of a rebound in the 61st, following a poor defensive show by India. Barely five minutes passed be-fore Tajikistan’s young midfielder

Nuriddin Davronov doubled the lead in the 66th. As in the first half, India kept trying to notch up a goal, but that was not to be and the supporters had to leave heavy hearted as India went down to the team they had defeated in the finals of 2008 to win the then edition of the AFC Challenge Cup 4-1.

Philippines beat India 2-0 Philip Younghusband – 10’ and 74’

In the fourth Group B fixture on the 11th of March, India were pitted against Philippines. Phil, of the Filipino football playing Younghusbands brother-duo fame, took centre stage in the clash by scoring the only two goals of the match, against the already discouraged Indians, effectively sealing India’s fate in the AFC Challenge. The prolific Filipino forward, who, later, has gone ahead to win the Top Scor-er award in the AFC Challenge Cup, broke the impasse of at-tacks and counter attacks in the first half when he put his team in the lead by scoring in the 10th. In a story that is more about the Azkals than the Indian team, India can receive a worthy men-tion for dominating the first half despite going down by a goal. The midfield was not quite up to the mark and even though India

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did manage to penetrate the Filipino defence by encroaching onto the rival box, they could not make any major attempts at scoring. In the second half, Youn-ghusband doubled the lead for Philippines in the 74th minute while Indian supporters watched in despair. Even so, as India kept trying without any breakthrough, it was obvious that they couldn’t find many favourable chances to capitalize on. Philippines won the match, its first ever win over India, who had to deal with the blues of a second successive loss. The Azkals went ahead to play the semifinals and are placed at an impressive third in the tour-nament, overall.

DPR Korea beat India 4-0Jon Kwang-Ik – 4’ Ri Kwang-Hyok – 34’ Pak Nam-Chol – 58’Ri Chol-Myong- 70’

India’s AFC campaign soon

proved disastrous as they lost to the strongest team they had played in the tournament yet. The DPR Korea team, ranked 111th in the world, made known its mettle when it turned out to be a scoring machine in re-sponse to India’s feeble efforts.

Boasting seven 2010 World Cuppers, they were the clear favourites in the clash and remained so as they kept the Medeira’s boys on their toes, not

allowing breathing space, even. India’s defence was a letdown yet again as it could not pos-sibly match up to the superior attacking performance of the Koreans. In such circumstances, it was understandable when left-back Jon Kwang-Ik nudged the ball home soon after the game started in the 4th minute and his efforts were buttressed by com-patriot Ri Kwang-Hyok on the 34th , giving the North Koreans a formidable lead. Ignoring India’s defensive lapses, even as their attempts at scoring are consid-ered, Chhetri’s left-foot effort could not successfully reach the back of the nets.

Changing over, the story was no different. Coach Me-deira’s tactic of introducing fresh legs did not help as midfield-

ers Pak Nam-Chol and Ri Chol-Myong guaranteed victory to DPR Korea in the 58th and 70th minutes, respectively and India’s drubbing was complete as they were ousted from the AFC Chal-lenge Cup 2012.

It is worth noting that the North Koreans have won the AFC Challenge Cup 2012, beating Turkmenistan 2-1, with a flaw-less record of wins, including all their three group matches (to top Group B). Striker/ attacking midfielder Pak Nam-Chol has also won the Honour of the Most Valuable Player.

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cover story

Barefoot with Gouramangi MoirangthemGouramangi Singh was at the heart of India’s central defence when the Indian team went for the AFC Chal-lenge Cup 2012 in Nepal. Post the fruitless campaign, a major tournament after a glorious victory at the SAFF Championship in 2011 in New Delhi, Abhishek Sah caught up with him and sought his views on the same.

On the performance in the AFC Challenge Cup 2012:

Gouramangi reflects that somehow the players could not come up as a team for this edi-tion of the tournament, includ-ing him. No excuses. He stresses on the fact that the team was essentially missing the experi-ence and the aura which the ‘big personalities’ like Climax Lawrence, Renedy Singh, Ma-hesh Gawli, Subrata Paul and Baichung Bhutia brought to the dressing room and on the pitch which eased the tensions of the

younger players, then mostly coming up as substitutes. The team could not pass over what it lacked in International experi-ence and confidence which was the reason that the game lacked the ‘finishing touch’. For many of the upcoming youngsters who have only been national regulars for the past few months, this was their first tournament in which they had to quickly fill in the positions and shoes of their stalwart teammates. But he is positive and calmly states that the ‘new’ team needed exposure

to grow together as a family and understand their game better, along with assessing the com-petition they have to face in the future, even though it is sad that it had to come at the time of a very crucial tournament.

On the Young Guns:Gouramangi points out that

the potential of the young men of the team is immense. When playing with and against them in the I-League and also playing with them for the National Team, he appreciates how their game

But he is positive and calmly states that the ‘new’ team needed exposure to grow together as a family and understand their game better

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is gradually becoming more refined. They are driven to train and are being aided by tech-nology, which is helping them perform better. The only lack, he highlights, is that; so far, they have not got enough chances to play for the Indian National Team. ‘It can’t be fully expressed, the exhilaration of representing the National Team, our ENTIRE

country’. The new generation is just starting to get a hang of this joy and pride. With it, he reasons, come immense pressures and expectations. Such demands are also a privilege and he is confident that the new batch is going to only get better with more matches. Sunil Chhetri is now the captain of the team. It’s a whole new dimension which

has taken shape in a very short time and needs some time to settle. Nevertheless, the senior team members constantly guide and push the juniors to train and perform better and also be more communicative and at ease, on and off the pitch. Such measures are bound in re-thinking and re-building team chemistry and performance as a unit, eventu-ally. He notes the brilliant perfor-mance of the Under-15 National Squad in the IMG as something big for the future of Indian foot-ball.

On Fans, Infrastructure and Support and the future:

‘Come on! It’s not only sport. Look at the Economy’. The man has a point. Football is being supplemented by the economic boom. With India steadily on the rise, so is Gouramangi’s optimism. He discusses that the government, the AFC and AIFF are taking the need for better in-frastructure more seriously now. Youth academies are coming up, new stadiums are being planned, improved training facilities for the junior and senior National squads and training camps abroad are slowly helping India and the growth of the game. From a 1.7 billion strong popu-lation, football fan numbers are growing from only by the handful. Even though Europe’s leagues and tournaments take most of the attention, Indian football is now being followed by a larger fan base. He adds that a recent soft drink commercial is a prime example of football being recognized as a part of the new Indian generation’s passion. On being asked about followers

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He adds that a recent soft drink commercial is a prime

example of football being recognized as a part of the

new Indian generation’s passion.

online, he is thrilled. ‘Football, also, is healthy entertainment’. He acknowledges the presence of social networks and how, through the ‘likes’ and ‘follows’ and ‘comments’ of thousands on these networks, they help In-dian footballers realize their con-tribution and the support they receive . ‘It feels patriotic and humbling that we are cherished. A reflection of an increasingly more ‘aware’ fan, out there, root-ing for us’. Gourmangi accounts that there have been incidents in which his team-mates from club

and country; himself included, have had celebrity moments in public with people walking up to them and striking conversa-tion, in parts of the country he never imagined to have been recognized. ‘Some people may not know our names, in certain places, but they recognize that we represent our country and the feeling is incredible!’, he adds.

More than just representing his country, Gouramangi is a fan of Indian Football. He is realistic and hopes that everyone should

‘play their roles’, big or small, honestly and it shall gradually be rewarding. ‘There is something positive happening’ (in Indian football), he says and signs off by hoping that he sees the National Team in a World Cup someday.

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cover story

Barefoot withMahesh Gawli

Mahesh Gawli, a retired veteran of 14 years with the Na-tional Team with 82 caps to his name and and an AFC

Challenge Cup (2008) winner chats with Barefoot about the present Challenge Cup result and the present squad.

Barefoot: What are your thoughts on the Indian Team’s performance in AFC Challenge Cup, 2012?

Gawli: I have to be honest here. I expected more from the team. It’s not the defeats I mind but the statistics. The fact that we did not score in any of the 3 group matches played and

conceded a minimum of 2 goals a game shows that the team wasn’t up to the mark. There wasn’t a collective team work and the finishing wasn’t precise. We were without experienced forwards to create scoring chances as was the midfield.

But to be fair to them, the squad had undergone major

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changes in lineup just before a very important tournament, for us, and they needed the experi-ence and the pressure.

Barefoot: Where on the pitch does the team need to improve?

Gawli: All over. Finding a flaw in one line of play or sin-gling out a player does not do the team justice. Everyone must and can improve and grow stronger. Not just on the pitch and with regard to their game but mentally as well. The younger players must focus on dealing with pressure and their finishing skills. The team needs more international exposure to learn from different styles of play

and performing under different conditions.

Barefoot: What is the dif-ference between your genera-tion of athletes and the present lot?

Gawli: Well, physically, these days the players are more athlet-ic than those of our generation. This is a result of better training and facility. There is however a Bhutia or Vijayan in this genera-tion, yet to appear. Their game was on a different level on the pitch, simply brilliant. But this is a young and very promising squad. Also, the current genera-tion also has a more demanding club schedule than before. I’ve seen this change take place.

Barefoot: A new captain. A changed team. Your thoughts…

Gawli: I wish Sunil all the best for the great responsibil-ity he’s been shouldered with. There are some solid players in the team like Gouramangi, Sunil (Chhetri), Nabi and Subhashish who were fresh faces during my time with the National Team and look at them now! They’re reli-able and have learned from the old while nurturing their own style of play. They will inspire and bring up the current genera-tion. There’s plenty of work to be done and I’m happy with the changes.

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independence from the colonial nations Netherlands and United Kingdom. A particular nation gained independence on 31 Aug 1957 from the British and hence instituted an annual tournament starting 1957 and named it after this word. What’s the word ?

QUESTION 3He is best known for play-

ing in the India national football team’s first ever match and scor-ing the first ever Indian inter-national goal ever in the 1948 Olympics against France. Even though the match ended 2-1 in favor of France his goal made him immortal in the history books. Name him.

QUESTION 4

Identify the team from its logo.

QUESTION 5

QUESTION 1________, is a traditionally

potters’ quarter in northern Kol-kata it is more than three centu-ries old. By virtue of their artistic productions these potters have moved from obscurity to promi-nence. Emerging virtually as an independent international brand of Durga-image makers, it continues to remain an exclusive exporter of the idols of the god-dess to different nooks and cor-ners of the globe during Durga Puja to more than 90 countries. There are about 200 studios in __________ which serve as both workplace and home. The pot-ters who make these images are called kumars and they often have the surname Pal or Paul. Name this place whose local team was legendary Gostha Pal’s first club.

QUESTION 2It is a Malay word for Free-

dom/Independence. It is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning “rich, prosperous and power-ful”. The word has become a battle-cry for those demanding

The very tough INDIAN FOOTBALL

X is a Belgian coach and a former football player who played his professional football career in Belgium with the club RWD Molenbeek.He is currently manager of United Sikkim in the Indian I-League 2nd Division. In India, he worked for the Times of India & Bartaman as expert guest, for the Bengal Post as Car-toonist as well as football expert in 2010 World cup CHANNEL 10 television show. A talented cartoonist that he is; he also designed the new revamped logo of United Sikkim F.C. that the club launched in April 2011. Name him.

QUESTION 6

Identify this legend.

QUIZBy Wasi Manazir

know your game

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The very tough INDIAN FOOTBALL

QUESTION 7

Identify the trophy that Bayern Munich is posing with.

QUESTION 8“It’s the story of three re-

markable men — one is his father who fought for his beliefs, another about the football coach who’s come all the way from Argentina to start this football academy, and this young man who is struggling to play foot-ball” Says Ashwin Kumar about his film. The movie depicts true story of Juan Marcos Troia

(aka “Marco”) whose Interna-tional Sports Academy Trust had trained about 1,000 young men from all over Kashmir — taking at least 50 from the armies of stone-throwing street protesters that plague local police. Name this movie that did rounds of International film festivals which had football at its heart.

QUESTION 9

Identify the team, and the encircled man.

QUESTION 10A former Indian captain

who led the team with distinc-tion, after hanging his boots he excelled as a coach too and has had stints with Mahindra United, Brothers Union, India and Ban-gladesh among others. Recog-nising his contribution both as a player and a coach Indian gov-ernment awarded him both the Arjuna and Dronacharya Awards for football, making him the only person with this distinction in football. Name him.

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27

feature

The Golden Boot of Indian Foot-ball: Tulsidas

BalaramBy Bodhisattya, Chandni and Irfan

If one has to search for the glory days of Indian Football, then we may have to go back nearly fifty years when India was an Asian superpower and the “Three Musketeers”, Tulsidas Balaram, Chuni Goswami and P K Banerjee, were the dominant forces.

One of the legends, Tulsidas Balaram, was recently in Delhi to attend an Inter University Football Tournament organised by 1960 Olympian S.S. Hakeem in memory of India’s legend-ary coach S.A. Rahim at Jamia University. Balaram was the Chief Guest at the final and gave away the prizes. He interacted with young students and spoke about football, his life and the plight footballers face today. He be-came nostalgic at the mention of his mentor and legendary coach Rahim Saab.

Born in Secundarabad (Am-magudda) on 4th October 1937,

Balaram was a superb inside forward famous for his impro-visation, diligence, versatility and mostly for his curling shots. Former India international and eminent defender Arun Ghosh described Balaram as “a man who had two eyes on the back of his head” – so superior was his ball distribution. He was also the heart of his teams, directing every attacking move.

He served East Bengal from 1957-62 where he scored 102 goals for the club. He captained the team in the 1961 season when he famously scored 23 goals. East Bengal fans affec-tionately call him “hawla”. He was also a member of both the 1956 and 1960 Olympic teams. The most glorious moment of his career came as a member of Gold Medal winning Indian Foot-ball team in 1962 Jakarta Asian Games for which he received the prestigious Arjuna Award later

that year.When asked about the

reason for the decline of Indian football after the 60s, Balaram said that the main reason is the lack of facilities at the grassroots level combined with factors of smaller families and parents’ focus on studies. His first take on reviving football is to improve facilities within the country.

“Instead of spending millions to hire foreign coaches to train the national team, the authori-ties should bring international facilities to the country. We need to have a well-built structure,” he says.

Giving the example of Brazil which has over four hundred football schools training boys under the age of 15, he said that India too, should focus on good coaches at a junior level. The state associations should have their own academies to nur-ture talent from an early stage.

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Balaram said, “I took Kolkata’s Mayors XI team to Sweden in the early 90s for the Gothia Cup, a youth association football tour-nament held annually and that is where I discovered current East Bengal and international mid-fielder Mehtab Hussain.”

Given the dearth of good players and coaches in India, he suggests that India should fol-low the model of ‘coaching the coaches’. “When Sir Alf Ramsey coached the English team, he went on a nationwide trip in-structing club coaches to play in a certain formation (4-3-3) and style. From these clubs he scout-

ed players for the national team. Similarly, India should train the junior level coaches who will gradually contribute in building a national team,” adds he.

In this cricket-crazy coun-try, efforts need to be made to popularize grass-root academies. Stating America’s example he points out, “In a country of American football and baseball, football was never popular in USA. But it was popularised by founding grassroots academy and by bringing legends like Pele and George Best to play for Cosmos. The Indian authorities should focus on fundamen-

tal development rather than spending lots of money to bring foreign clubs to play one-off matches, which does nothing for the uplift of Indian football.”

“We need foreign coaches only to coach our local coaches. Our coaches can then go on and train the wider base of local, younger players of different age groups. Foreign coaches will be of no help if they have to train and select a group of top play-ers. The core of Indian football remains untouched in that case,” he insists.

Balaram became nostalgic while recalling his experience at

29

the 1962 Asian Games, “It was the first time when we were playing under floodlights and we were baffled. All the teams were given only 15 minutes to practice under the floodlights before the final next day. As we started our practice session our opponents, South Korea, stood on the sidelines taking notes of our play. Rahim Sahab divided us in two teams and asked us to take out our jerseys so that the teams could be differenti-ated, as no extra practice jerseys were provided in those days. The moment we took out our jer-seys, the foreign players started pointing towards us mocking our skinny frames. We were embarrassed but Rahim Sahab called us and said, let them laugh today; tomorrow they will see the champions in these very skinny bodies.”

At the same tournament, he recollects another incident with the Indonesian fans. Mr. G.D.

Sondhi, the then Vice-President, Indian Olympics Association, made remarks about Indonesia’s decision to ban Israel from the games, which didn’t go down well with the locals. “Suddenly, from favourites we turned into the most hated team. During the final match, every time we had the ball the local fans made great noise and we thought that we were being cheered. After we won, when the Indian na-tional anthem was being played, people started hooting and that is when we realised that we were actually being booed all through the match. Then, after the award ceremony, the team bus left for the Games village leaving be-hind my team-mate Franco and me. Scared, we held our med-als and trophy under our arms and began to walk towards the Games Village. Suddenly two Indonesians stopped us and apologised for the disrespect the crowd showed to us. It was

a great gesture and I was over-whelmed.”

Balaram was teary eyed as he remembered his coach. He said, “Rahim Sahab had two dreams. One was that India wins the Asian Games gold medal and the other was to help Hyder-abad win its first ever national championship. I am privileged to have played a part in making these dreams come true.”

Balaram is looking forward to the proposed franchisee based Premier League Soccer in West Bengal. “With players like Fabio Cannavaro and Rob-bie Fowler coming here, local players can learn a lot. Indians playing alongside world-class foreign players is always a good thing.”

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East Bengal: Keeping their title hopes alive

Having taken just two points out of a possible twelve in February, the break in the I-League season seems to have come in at just the right time for East Bengal. The team in Red

special feature

THE I-LEAGUE SECTION

Story of the Month:

again 3-0.Coming back into the

I-League after the break, East Bengal’s record for the last six games in all competitions read: Lost-4, Drawn-2, Won-0. East Bengal faced Salgaocar in a must win Round-21 fixture of I-League. They won the game 1-0 with Tolgay Ozbey scoring the all-important goal in the 55th minute. It was a well-deserved, hard fought victory which kept their slender hopes of winning the I-League alive.

Their next fixture came just

and Gold went through a dismal period prior to the break, where they played four games in two weeks and managed to pick up just two points in those games. The last of those games came against a Shillong Lajong side who beat them 2-1 on the 11th of February. The title challenge seemed to all but over for the Bengal side, who after the poor string of results saw themselves seated on the third place in the I-League table but more impor-tantly left them eight points behind leaders Dempo.

The month of March for East Bengal began with a home game in the AFC Cup against Al Orouba from Yemen. The change in competition had little change in the fortunes of the club as they suffered another 0-1 defeat at the hands of the Yemeni club. Another difficult game followed, this time a trip to Kuwait to face Kazma SC, where they lost

The East Bengal fans will be hoping that the strike

pairing of Ozbey and Singh keep up their good

form till the end of the season.

In Pic: Tolgay Ozbey

31

a few days later when they faced a lowly Mumbai FC side, who were struggling in the relega-tion zone. East Bengal came back from a goal down to win the game 3-1. They conceded a goal as early as the 5th minute but showed enough character to come back and win the game comfortably.

The win cut down the lead at the top to five points but Dempo had a game in hand. East Bengal needed a favour from their arch rivals Mohun Bagan, as Bagan faced Dempo in their round 22 fixture. A win or a draw for Bagan against Dempo would have been a favourable result for East Bengal. The teams played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Salt Lake Stadium which took Dempo to 47 points from 22 games. East Bengal lie in second spot with 41 points while Mohun Bagan slipped all the way down to 5th position after Round 22.

Australian Tolgay Ozbey,

their main man up front, has been instrumental all season for the team in Red and Gold. He scored in both the I-League games in March and is the top scorer for the club with 15 goals this season. Robin Singh, the impressive young centre forward, also has played an important role in both the victories. He

provided the assist for Tolgay Ozbey in the game against Salgaocar by providing a deli-cious cross from the left flank. He then scored the goal that put East Bengal ahead in the victory against Mumbai FC. The East Bengal fans will be hoping that the strike pairing of Ozbey and Singh keep up their good form till the end of the season.

With just four games left in the season, a six point deficit leaves East Bengal with a very slender chance of winning the I-League title. They now face Chi-rag United in their next league fixture. Round 24 sees them play Dempo away in a must win encounter. East Bengal must also hope that Dempo drop points in at least two of the other three games. They must surely be ru-ing their poor run of results in the fortnight leading up to the I-League break. Wins in any two of those four games would have meant that the title-aspirations would have still been in their hands.

East Bengal beat Salgaocar FC

EB players celebrate a goal against Mumbai F.C.

The East Bengal fans will be hoping that the

strike pairing of Ozbey and Singh keep up

their good form till the end of the season.

Coming back into the I-League after the break, East Bengal’s record for the last six games in all competitions read: Lost-4, Drawn-2, Won-0.

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special feature

MATCH REPORTS

Heady Air India hold Bagan 2-2

(based on AIFF Reports)

In the round 21 encounter between Air-India and Mohun Bagan, the two teams shared the spoils as the match ended 2-2. Bagan equalised in the second half after going in at the break a goal down at 2-1.

Air-India made quite a few changes in their line-up, com-pared to their last match with Sandesh Gadkari and Ezeh Henry starting on the bench. Mohun Bagan fielded a side with as many as 6 India internationals in the playing eleven. Odafa and Chhetri led the attack for the Kolkata side.

The two sides employed visibly different strategies. While Mohun Bagan heaved long balls up to their strikers, Air India relied on their pace and kept the ball rolling on the ground. Bagan struck first against the run of play when Manish Maithani scored through a wicked deflec-

Air Indiavs

Mohun Bagan

While Mohun Bagan heaved long balls up to their strikers, Air India relied on their pace and kept the ball rolling on the ground.

By Sajin Padiyath

tion that lobbed his shot over the Air-India goalkeeper. How-ever Bagan’s joy was short lived as Air India equalised almost immediately.

Prakash Thorat picked up the ball on the right and fired in

a cross. A deflection off the de-fender saw the ball kindly fall to Manandeep Singh who bicycle-kicked the ball into the net from five yards out.

Air-India constantly found space behind the Mohun Bagan

33

defence which consisted entirely of India internationals. Col-lin Abranches on the left and Prakash Thorat on the right con-stantly troubled the Bagan back four. Bagan when on the attack relied on Odafa to hold the ball and shoot on the turn.

Air-India took the lead through Manandeep Singh on the 39th minute. Prakash was put through by Omi and he hit the post with his shot. The ball came back off the post and was collected by Manandeep, who had the calmness to slide it home past the covering defend-ers.

The two teams went in the break with Air India leading 2-1.

The second half saw Air India sit deep and try and hit Bagan on the counter. Bagan

saw more of the ball in the second half and equalised in the 60th minute through Odafa. Odafa got past a defender and slid a low shot past the goal-keeper to equalise.

Both teams had enough chances to win from here on, but neither could capitalise on their chances. Man of the match, Manandeep headed a free-kick just wide off the mark in the 68th minute and a couple of minutes later had a penalty shout turned down by the ref-eree.

India captain Sunil Chhetri, who had been unable to make his presence felt all through the game, had a glorious chance to change the game in Bagan’s favour. With only five minutes to go, he controlled a long ball on

his chest in the penalty box, but shot the volley high over the bar. Chhetri put another header wide off the mark in the 89th minute to the disappointment of the away fans.

A point blank save from Bagan keeper off another effort from Manandeep in the injury time meant that the teams fin-ished with 2 goals each. Air India Coach Santosh Kashyap was dis-appointed with the draw saying

“With the chances we created we should have definitely won the game. It was our game to win.”

Chirag United Kerala beat Shillong Lajong FC 3-2 in a round 21 I-League match at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi.

Chirag United get the better of

Lajong 3-2

All the goals came in the second half of the match with Vineeth CK scoring a brace for Chirag. David Sunday also scored for Chirag while John Me-

nyongar and Boithang Haokip scored for the visitors.

Both the teams missed op-portunities to take the lead early in the first half and the game got

Chirag United Keralavs

Shillong Lajong FC

Chirag United Kerala 3 (Vineeth CK – 45+ & 75th, David Sunday – 60th) Beat

Shillong Lajong 2 (John D Menyongar – 59th, Boithang Haokip – 84th)

By Sajin Padiyath

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its first goal in the injury time.When it seemed the half

would end goalless, Chirag’s top scorer of the season Vineeth CK scored and put the hosts into the lead at 1-0.

The second half began just like the first with Eugenson Lyngdoh failing to convert an-other chance which would have brought Lajong back to level terms. Eugenson Lyngdoh failed to put the ball into an empty net in the 49th minute, albeit from an acute angle.

Lajong got their equalizer in the 59th minute through John Menyongar. John headed in from a corner by Eugenson Lyngdoh.

It did not take the hosts long to get back in the lead and they were back in the front in

just a couple of minutes. David Sunday produced a magnificent finish by chipping the ball over on-rushing Lajong keeper Lalth-uamawia Ralte.

Chirag United went 3-1up when Vineeth scored his second goal in the 75th minute. David Sunday picked the ball well out-side the opposition’s penalty box and got past defenders and the goalkeeper before squaring the ball to his strike partner. Vineeth had the simple job of tapping it into the net.

The hosts seemed to have sealed the three points with only 15 minutes to go, but Lajong came back into the game with their second goal of the match in the 84th minute. With just six minutes to go, substitute Boithang Haokip headed in to

bring Lajong back in it at 3-2. Chirag held onto the lead de-spite sustained pressure from their opponents.

Chirag have now taken six points from the last two games, having beaten Air India 3-1 in the previous game. The win takes them to 17 points from 20 matches, and sees them leapfrog above Mumbai FC and out of the relegation zone while Shillong Lajong stays at 27 points from 21 outings.

Kingfisher East Bengal Zoom Past Salgaocar FC

Kingfisher East Bengal beat Salgaocar 1-0 in a round 21 fixture of the I-League. Tolgay Ozbey scored the all-important goal in the 55th minute. The win keeps East Bengal slim title hopes alive and sees them climb

East Bengalvs

Salgaocar FC

Kingfisher East Bengal 1 (Tolgay Ozbey – 55th)BeatSalgaocar SC 0

By Sajin Padiyath

up to second spot in the League table.

The first half did not see many chances for either side as the teams stayed on the defen-sive for much of the half. With around seven minutes gone in

the first half, Baljit Singh Sahni went past the keeper but failed to finish as he shot over the bar. On the half four mark Tolgay Oz-bey had another chance to put East Bengal into the lead. After some good football, first by Penn

35

Orji and then by Robin Singh who passed the ball to Tolgay to put the finishing touches, the striker put it wide off the mark.

The teams went into the break with the game still goal-less.

East Bengal went into the second half with more intent as they needed nothing but a win to keep their title hopes alive. Salgaocar keeper Karanjit was beaten once again in the second half and this time it was Tolgay who went past him. Tolgay, how-ever, put the chance wide off the mark.

Tolgay managed to finish his third chance of the game when he headed into the net on the 55th minute. Robin Singh put in a delicious cross from the left flank with Tolgay having to only nod it past the keeper. The Salgaocar coach would not have been happy with his defence, as the two center backs were caught ball watching as Tolgay slipped in behind them to head the ball in.

With East Bengal leading the game, they started dictat-ing the terms and created a few more chances for themselves,

but failed to finish any of them. Salgaocar had a penalty appeal turned down in the 70th minute.

The game ended 1-0 in favour of East Bengal and Tolgay Ozbey was declared man of the match. The win sees East Bengal jump above Mohun Bagan to the second spot; Bagan drew their corresponding fixture with Air India 2-2 at Pune.

The lead, at the top, remains by eight points.

|36

feature

An OSCAR for FootballSajin Padiyath writes about a man and his mission to impart holistic life skills to children from less privileged backgrounds while playing some good quality football in an attempt to mould the young-sters into confident, well-rounded individuals.

“A Change-maker” is how Ashok Rathod described himself when accepting the CNN-IBN Real Heroes Award back in 2009. Ashok has been changing the lives of over 200 impoverished kids from South Mumbai for more than five years now. Ashok is the founder of OSCAR (Organ-isation for Social Change and Re-sponsibility) Foundation which runs programs that teaches kids from the backward sections of our society to play football. Through the program he imparts to young kids important lessons in life, including how to value their parents and their educa-tion.

Ashok founded the OSCAR Foundation back in 2006 with the hope of improving the lives of kids in Ambedkar Nagar, a

slum dwelling in South Mum-bai. Growing up in Ambedkar Nagar, he saw his friends drop out from school at an early age.

“Young kids from the age of 6 to 16, go fishing in the nearby Sas-soon Dock and make hundreds of rupees in a single day. After sharing a portion of their money with their families, they use the money to indulge in vices such as smoking, drinking and gam-bling. Also since they start earn-ing early they discontinue their education and drop out from school,” he says.

Around the same time, Ashok was employed with Magic Bus, an organisation which runs a ‘Sports 4 Development (S4D)’ program and teaches impover-ished kids to learn the lessons of life through sports like Rugby

and Football. Having graduated from the training program, he started the OSCAR football club in his own locality. “I started out with 18 kids in 2006, out of which 12 were school drop-outs. Convincing parents to let their kids join the team was very dif-ficult as they blamed me when their children failed their exams. Gradually they began to see things in a different light and now we even have a girls’ team,” Ashok says.

Today, Oscar Foundation trains an Under-14, Under-17 and a senior boys’ team as well as an all girls’ team with 35 girls in it. The senior boys’ team play in the Mumbai football league’s third tier and is hoping to get promoted to the second division this season. And how does he

Convincing parents to let their kids join the

team was very difficult as they blamed me when their children failed their exams.

His efforts were recognised by the CNN IBN-Reliance Real Hero Awards in 2009.

37

teach the lessons of life through football? “When a kid fails his exams and wants to drop out of school, I ask him - when the team concedes a goal early in a football match, do they quit and stop playing even when most of the match is still yet to be played? I take such examples from football and relate them to life-experiences,” he says.

The organisation and Ashok himself, have gone from strength to strength. His efforts were recognised by the CNN IBN-Reliance Real Hero Awards in 2009 and since then he has run the organisation indepen-dently. “With the award, came good funding. This helped us a lot as we could now be less dependent on external funds,” he says. Other organisations like Ashoka’s Youth Venture and Unltd India have partnered with OSCAR and supported the cause. They make yearly contributions, while the rest of the funds come from personal donors and cor-porations.

Ashok has been invited to speak at many international peace conferences and organisa-tions, which seek social change through the medium of sport. OSCAR is now a member of FIFA-affiliated Street Football World Organisation for which he had to go through a six-month long interview process for the same. He also holds a certificate in a program run under the KNVB, the Dutch Football Association.

The OSCAR foundation has now expanded and is present in Goa, with around 130 kids in the training program and also a football club that runs under his guidance. Ashok wishes to

spread the program to Delhi, Karnataka and Orissa and has already performed a recce of five villages in Karnataka. As the founder of his organisation, his motto remains that his program has an effect on as many lives as possible and wants the organ-isation to be run entirely by the youth.

OSCAR is now a member of FIFA-affiliated Street Football World Organisation.

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March 15th, 2011: A team of triumphant young girls was fe-licitated by the AIFF at the Foot-ball House, AIFF Headquarters in Delhi. The beaming squad of the U-13 national girls’ team had all reasons to grin and receive the greeting- they are the proud new champions of the AFC U-13 Cup tournament that recently concluded at Colombo, Sri Lanka.

AIFF General Secretary

The enthusiasm and ear-nestness of Priya travels through the air waves of our telephonic conversation and I understand how much this victory means to women’s football in India. Priya, who has had a 12 year stint with the Kerala team as Coach, only recently took up the reins of the

report

U-13 Girls register a thumping AFC win

The hard work has paid back: Priya PV

Kushal Das congratulated the girls for putting up such a stu-pendous performance. “I con-gratulate you for the feat which you have achieved. Hope you will continue with this in the future tournaments. All of you have made the country proud,” he said. Mr. Das also announced a cash reward of Rs 5000 each for the players and the support staff.

The girls won all their five

U-13 Girls team. She expresses that her first assignment at the national level could not have had a better start. True enough as the girls had an inspiring run in Sri Lanka, mauling Bhutan 13-0, Palestine 9-0, Srilanka 7-0, Jordan 7-1 and Iran 1-0. Surely this mount was scaled only due

matches and defeated the likes of Iran (1-0), Bhutan (13-0), hosts Sri Lanka (7-0), Jordan (7-1) and Palestine 9-0 on way to winning the tournament. Head Coach, Priya PV was encouraging in her words about the team. She also thanked the AIFF and hoped that the good form of the girls continued till the U-14 AFC cup next year.

Priya PV, Head coach of the victorious AFC U-13 girls team, reveals in a freewheeling chat to K S Yashaswini the mood of the team and about their trot in Colombo.

““The grounds over there

were excellent. The girls

could play much better

than in India.”

39

to hard work, Priya asserts.“We are very happy that we

won. This is a step in the right direction. We hope to sustain our performance even at the U-14 tournaments”, says an elated Priya. That is the next big tour-nament, the U-14 AFC cup next year. When prodded about tech-niques that she uses with the girls, Priya answers that the tech-niques are the same be it for the girls or boys. “It is the time they are to be trained systematically, something you can term ‘the grassroot preparation’.” Forma-tive ages of the girls can prove to be an added incentive to get the girls interested in the game, one suggests. She is prompt to bring that to light, “The win should encourage these girls to con-tinue with the game. After U-13, it should be U-14. This how we retain and encourage the kids to stick with the game.”

The girls come from all over India. She adds, “The selection is on an open basis, there is fair representation from all the states.” However the girls from the North East seem to be doing really well. She prefers the idea of selection from state camps though. “The selection should be made by making these girls go through preparatory camps at the state level and then using that as the platform for coaches to pick the team as against the open selection method (which is currently the trend)”.

So what is the mood in the camp? Priya is more than happy to answer, “It was a really good tournament. We won all the games. Even I did not expect so much from the team.” There was a marked difference in the

way the girls played at Colombo, she says. “There was no pres-sure on the girls and they did not have any tension.” What was the reason? “The grounds over there were excellent. The girls could play much better than in India. Here the grounds and facilities have to improve”, Priya remarks. However she is quick to recognize AIFF’s support to the campaign. “AIFF gave us the mo-tivation to win the tournament. They received us after the tour-nament with equal pride”, she states gratefully. The players and supportive staff, including Coach Anita Sarkar, were all awarded Rs 5000 each for the win.

Every tournament produces stars, making the unknown faces and names contenders to reckon with. There were indeed players who made everyone sit up and take notice, she points out. “Dayadevi (Manipur for-ward) was the top scorer of the tournament. She did extremely well”. The Most Valuable Player of the tournament award was also

picked up by Indian mid-fielder, Rojadevi (Manipur). Priya is posi-tively boisterous now, “Rojadevi in the midfield with Pashmina (Manipur, again) were excellent in form. It was deserved that she picked the award. Not to forget the contributions of top defend-er, Soni Kumar (Bihar)”.

As the conversation now draws to a close, Priya hopes that the girls continue with the game. “We have given the team tips to prepare well and keep playing till the next tournament.” The two month training camp to give fitness training and prepare the girls as a cohesive unit paid off well, she notes. “I hope that there are more such camps. May-be the AIFF could arrange for a couple of invitational games too. The preparation can go a long way.” She is profuse in her thanks to the state and national bod-ies for reposing faith in her to lead the team. It was her first big success at the national level. We at Barefoot hope that this is just the first of many to come.

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