Time To Kick Our Football Long And Hard!

 

- Ayon Sengupta

India, the land of festivals, is still giddy in its success of hosting a festive-filled Under-17 World Cup.

The event, like the big fat Indian wedding, had its share of pomp and splendour, its success attributed to the perfect mix of on and off-field equations. But, long after the lights have dimmed and the DJs have left, it’s the lasting relationship built between two parties that makes a marriage successful. While India collected kudos for its welcoming hospitality, the World Cup’s true inheritance can only be the long-term sustainability of the football enthusiasm generated in the country. This should lead to the development of the sport, allowing India to have its legitimate position at least in the pantheon of Asian greats.

The qualification to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, an unnecessarily bloated affair of 24 teams, is barely a measure of Indian football’s growth. Missing out on the competition would have been yet another nadir and the participation confirmation is no news to tom-tom about.

However, the record attendance at the FIFA event across six cities should enthuse the administrators, a necessary sign proving an unbridled interest in the sport. The usual glitches associated with international sporting events hosted in India and the stories of shoddy management were surprisingly missing, except the odd first-day breakdown of systems at Delhi’s Nehru Stadium, with the civic and security establishment showing more interest in securing the comfort of the Prime Minister and his many accompanying dignitaries and not the 20,000 plus children herded in from neighbouring Haryana to provide a manufactured cheering glow for the image-conscious omnipresent leader.