Change the Perspective for Sports

Jul 4
NabanitaDhar

Football is like life – it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority-Vince Lombardi.

Ever since I was a little girl I watched my Dad follow football religiously. Every FIFA World Cup, he would stay up late or wake up really early to watch twenty two players run around with a big round ball; kicking, tackling and blocking; all the time playing to put the ball behind the line defeating the gigantic man manning them. But it wasn’t until the 1998 World Cup that I was sucked into the frenzy too. I remember watching Davor Suker play some of the most amazing football. Ofcourse it helped that he was breathtaking to look at too. I watched him become the top goal scorer and also win the Golden Boot. I was awed by him and the game too. It was that year that my love affair began with the wonderful game of football.

Well now three world cups and countless favorite players later, I love the thrills and the tackles; I love the free kicks and the corners and I love the cheering of the fans and the passion. 

Till recently I didn’t know that our National Football Team had actually qualified for the FIFA World Cup as early as 1950 but they couldn’t travel to Brazil due to the cost and also for valuing the Olympics more than the former. Ofcourse after that qualification has only been a dream. Do you know the FIFA ranking of our team? It’s 164 and the best ever being 94. A sport in which our country is so much behind the FIFA standards; mind you not for the lack of talent but opportunity and support from the government; I am often asked why the craze? But then a sport is a sport; ofcourse if India would be right there up in the running it would definitely be the cherry on the cake. But for that our Government and the Sports ministry needs to back the players and associations. Apart from that the players and the families need to be ensured too of a steady and decent income; for them to seriously take up the sport.

Just few days back I heard a five year old boy talk about Tendulkar, Dhoni and Cricket. It made me wonder the reach of Cricket in our society and in the psyche of our country. Let alone a five year old, can a thirty year old without having to Google tell us who the members of our current Indian National Football Team are? Do you even know that our team is two time South Asian Football Federation Cup Champion? I am sure the answer will be in the negative.

Sometimes I wonder why the apathy towards any other sport apart from Cricket and perhaps Tennis to a certain extent. A country which doesn’t do enough for its National Sport, hockey, can hardly dream of achieving accolades and feats in others.

A lot needs to change; we need to revolutionize our outlook towards sports as a country. We need to widen our perspective; look beyond Cricket. Nothing personal against the sport, but there is so much more, so many avenues that we as a country need to explore in terms of sports. There is a dire need for academies and institutions which give sponsorships to players; who train them and give them an opportunity to harness their talents. Leagues within the country which pays too; for it is difficult for people to leave the comforts of steady paying jobs and give everything to a sport other than cricket when they know they’ll only be paid peanuts in return and sometimes even that is hard to come by.

‘Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence-George F. Will ‘. Children in our country are force fed the dreams of becoming either a doctor or an engineer. Have you asked yourselves why? There is simply no security or backing available to look around for something else. But again, hopefully one day the sun will rise in an India where players apart from cricketers and tennis stars too are given equal importance and respect. As I pen this article watching a match between Germany and Portugal, I harbor a secret desire to watch India play in the FIFA World Cup atleast once in my life time. I pray to see the Blue Tigers in action Amen! 

49 thoughts on “Change the Perspective for Sports”

  1. stumbled upon your article while exploring Indiblogger..good observation combined with nice lines.
    I have just started writing…so kinda very new to this space

  2. Thank you for an interesting article, I didnt know that we qualified for FIFA WC. Thanks again. 🙂

  3. Nice read. Cricket and Tennis are more "popular" because they are both "rich" sports in India or in other words sports where the wealth being earned by players is very visible. Football, Hockey, Atheletics doesn't have "superstars" or organizations backing them to the extent that the people participating have nation fame of the same standards. That's also the reason why children now dream more about cricket. Although I have to say the football crazy in India is phenomenal unfortunately it consists of people admiring foreign players and not Indian because we don't have players of the same caliber

  9. i didn't even know our Football Team had qualified for the FIFA World Cup !!!

    " I harbor a secret desire to watch India play in the FIFA World Cup atleast once in my life time. " Amen !

  11. my father was a state level football player but hv to give up as it did not provide bread and butter to his family..he had to leave his passion to seek a job to support his family..I know the plight..I hv seen my dad's passion for the game till his last breath..nice post Nabanita..

  12. I never played cricket, football etc. but when I watched, I realized they require team spirit, field work in addition to personal skills. Your post is stimulating. Thanks!

  13. True… cricket seems to be the only sport here :/ shame, when there are so many equally interesting ones to play and watch. Someone told me that the famous hockey player Dhyan Chand died on the streets in abject poverty.

  14. Nabanita,
    True..cricket is overshadowing other sports in India. The encouragement, sponsorship & promotion given to cricket in our country is very high as compared to other nations. We can see cricketers in maximum advertisement, we can rarely see other sport person…things need change.
    And Amen to your prayers!! WE SHALL BE THERE…
    Enjoyed the write up 🙂

  15. ohhh yeah… i knew this.. and wanted to write a post abt it too..:) as said cricket is really dominating all the sports… no one cares abt hockey and football which are much more interesting sports that s..!!! i wonder if anyone actually knows who the hockey captain of india is..::

    hockey being the national sport we must at least make sure we know its captain!!!

  16. A very different topic from your usual posts Nabanita.

    I accept, without Google I would have no idea about your questions and that was an interesting piece about the indian team's qualification to FIFA in the fifties.

  17. Thanks Ranita…Hopefully a time will come in India where we will be able to follow our passions, in sports, particularly and not have to give it up…

  22. Hope you liked it Jaish! yes indeed its through google that we get to know about all these, else its only cricket; cricket and more cricket!

  23. you've stolen my thoughts Nabanita. I'm crazy about football too. It's my dream to see India playing the world cup before I die. And being a football fanatic, I myself don't know half of our national team player. I needs to be changed.

  25. What was that movie… Chak De! Yeah, this is a topic that we Indians know about but rarely address! China has done a great job in focussing in out on sports! India has the potential to do so but needs to revise its focussing!
    We have so many doctors and engineers that our older generations also don't think that anything else is really worthwhile! They have a valid point too…. nothing else really pays that well!
    Well, lets just hope that in days to come we may see some kind of change!
    Well written again!

  26. Ameen 🙂
    First thing Naba, i liked your passion towards sports that too for footbal. Second is your valid point about Indian sports. It is only Cricket. Only recently national sport Hockey is gaining some recognition.

  32. There are lots of interesting stories associated with Indian football Nabanita…btw the Sukor world cup was 98, not 88 🙂

    Also with so many European clubs investing in football in India, I hope the next generation of players will be of good quality, and hopefully we will witness ourselves in the world cup, hopefully!!

  33. Yes I know that Desh and hence I have written 1998 only.. and it's Suker not Sukor 🙂

    Hopefully things will change for good 🙂

  35. I never knew that we have qualified for the FIFA World Cup once! Anyway, yesterday read in the newspaper about the Sunil Chhetri's contract with a Portugal Club.Hope the scenario of Football will change in my country with the time.

  36. Football requires more stamina, physical standards and athletic skill than any other game. Perhaps we have not done anything to increase on this. Right now it is an uphill task and financiers including the Govt. do not have the patience. But in Eastern India and Goa it is very popular the standard is not increasing just because the amount of required support is very less than the demand.
    Thank you for your article.

  43. Great to see a girl writing about football. Didn't expected it to be this good. Awesome piece of writing. I'll like to add a few things. India had indeed qualified for the 1950 WC but that was only because the top Asian teams Philippines, Indonesia and Burma all withdrew, leaving India to qualify by default. However, AIFF did not allowed them to travel inspite being assured by FIFA that they will bear a major part of the travel expenses. Who knows if India had participated in that WC, the current scenario might have been very different. Damn AIFF.

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