When Arun Lal and Ravi Shastri floated a cricket players’ association, there was hype and perhaps some hope that it will succeed. It didn’t, presumably because the purse-string is irrevocably controlled by BCCI. Whatever that failed the association, not many tears were shed. It wasn’t to serve larger interests of Indian sports if only for the reason that our cricketing heroes are so rich that it would be beyond their super-inflated esteems to help other associations.
Seen in this backdrop, when Bhaichung Bhutia took lead to form football players’ association yesterday, ordinary football lovers felt sceptical. Will they succeed, will they not? Bhaichung is hopeful, though cautious not to overstep. He is one of the directors of FPAI, 3 others are Raman Vijayan, S Venkatesh and Deepak Mondal. The former Indian goalkeeper, Sumit Mukherjee is the CEO. Mohun Bagan’s star recruit this season, Jose Barreto is very effusive and promises to join FPAI.
The unstoppable Bhaichung. When will Indian football become so?
Picture source : http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/fifa/gen/xp/20060222/i/1051534678.jpg.
A fresh breeze is blowing across Maidan, the home to Kolkata football (and indeed Indian football’s). East Bengal has recruited a foreign coach, Carlos Roberto Da Pereira, a Brazilian. So too has Eveready who has signed the Belgian, Philippe de Ridder, the erstwhile East Bengal coach. The Indian national side too has Bob Houghton as the new coach.
There are sincere efforts on the part of IFA and AIFF to improve the standard of football in India. Ardent fans of the game like me are willing to wait to see it reviving bit by bit. We very dearly need football to bloom, and since it has grassroots-reach in our country, it has the potential to radically transform India’s overall sports-scene.
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