Boys Don't Want To Be Gentlemen

Hockey stutters; cricket reigns still. Spurred by foreign action on TV and domestic leagues, football is conquering India’s young.

- Qaiser Mohammad Ali

THIS weekend it would be known if Sunil Chhetri’s Bengaluru Football Club makes history, or breaks hearts, in Doha when it faces the tough Iraqi team Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) final. But whatever the outcome, the fact that an Indian club is in the final of the AFC has disrupted many sports fans’ worship at the altar of cricket, forcing them to cast a surprised, sideways glance at the world’s favourite game. Last month, India touched 137th at the FIFA rankings—the goalpost may be far yet, but it is our best position ever.

So, is the ‘beautiful game’ luring fans in India beyond its pocket boroughs in Goa, Kerala, the Northeast and Bengal? It’s on the rise, says Chhetri,32, also captain of the Indian team. He feels the stirrings of a footballing revolution, though he treads cautiously. “There’s a steady surge in the country with relation to football’s popularity and it’s on its way to snowballing into something big,” Chhetri tells Outlook. “Whether it will get as big or more popular than cricket is anybody’s guess but the signs are all there.”

Chhetri scored a brace in Bengaluru FC’s 3-1 win over defending champions Johor Darul Ta’zim of Malaysia in the semi-final second-leg match in Bangalore, which got his team trending. “Bengaluru FC making the final of the AFC Cup generated an unbelievable amount of buzz, one like I haven’t seen before. It just goes to show when the sport is run correctly, success will follow and, in turn, attention,” says the talismanic striker.