The Transgression of Indian Football

Tuesday night is when the football world eats well, even in India, where the games air at 1:30 AM IST. Europe’s premium football competition is surely a joy Indian football enthusiasts never got from their nation. While ‘The Beautiful Game’ has been on the rise for the better part of the decade in India, it still relates more to failure and mediocrity than it reckons with the success and growth of the sport. It is ironic when the “shortage of talent and passion” in the new generation is not even the least reason behind its transgression.

Renowned Indian football legend Sunil Chhetri has long completed his claim of being the greatest football player India has ever witnessed. His embarking Durand Cup win on September 18, 2022, was yet another icing on the cake, something the legend has shown more since being on the north side of 30. However, it was not the 38-year-old’s triumph with Bengaluru FC that caught the headlines, but a rather disturbing and discouraging moment witnessed in the trophy presentation. La Ganesan, the governor of West Bengal, who was one of the guests of honours for the final event, while presenting Chhetri with the winners’ trophy, shoved him to the side. The degree of the accident might certainly not have been enough for Chhetri to react back; the football icon’s humble attitude made the scene disappear, but the disrespect shown by a politician towards the captain of his nation’s football team was very noticeable for the likes of all Indian football fans and pundits. This incident did spark up controversies, but they were visible on the pages of social media rather than the front pages of newspapers and channels. This incident showcased the respect and admiration Indian football has in front of the bureaucracy and even the masses. Such an incident with a cricket legend like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, or any senior politician would not have been tolerated. The former is neither covered by the media nor the masses. 

The summer of 2023 was the peak time of the summer transfer window for European and Asian football. Spanish football legend and World Cup winner Andreas Iniesta offered his services to India’s top-flight football club, Mohun Bagan Super Giant. Owing to the Barcelona legend’s astonishing career, dominance in world football for years, and most importantly, fanfare in a densely populated country like India, his signing was an absolute win for the Kolkata-based club in sporting, marketing, and economic aspects. However, it was the latter that became the point of objection, and the deal could not materialise, and even the news became invisible. However, it was Iniesta’s sporting agent, Joel, who had the news circulated about the Spaniard’s failed move to the Indian side. His agent’s salary demand was set at half of what he earned at Japanese side Vissel Kobe. This was not met by Mohun Bagan. The staggering part of the whole little saga was that the 2010 World Cup winner’s salary demands ($7.2 million) [source: Marcus Mergulhao, Times of India] outrank the wages of the entire squad and the club’s annual budget. After this news got around at the beginning of November 2023, it has made football enthusiasts and podcasters scrutinise the sports and administrative authority about how a nation of 1.4 billion people, possessing arguably the best cricket team and a history of participation in global competitions, can be so backward in the game of football that is played and developed in more than 80% of the countries of the world.

The Indian national football team has never been a standout side. Neither the silverware nor the history are valid to change this fact. But staying in the race, competing with the best, and becoming a reference point for the very youth of your nation deserves appraisal and support, if not being labelled as ‘heroic’ yet.

Biasness and inbuilt stereotypes

Both of these incidents pose two different aspects of the same thing: “How India pictures the most popular game on the planet and its professionals on their soil.”

Of course, the scrutiny is not new. It does not imply only the economic strength of the AIFF (All India Football Federation), but diverse aspects of political support that have been unseen for decades as compared to cricket. No more is the media’s support that ransacks the team repeatedly on its failure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup and duly has undermined its tremendous growth all through the years. What comes under the biggest scrutiny is how the media has been good at ignoring the biases of the government’s policies and budgets towards the respective football authorities. Rather than being the wheel to the upheaval of the publicity of its victories, it has acted as a biased critique.

FAILURE! HOW?

The commercialization of sports and the start of franchises play a big part in uncovering the truth behind Indian football’s failure. As positive as the start of the Indian Super League (a franchise football tournament in India), the drawbacks have been no less. There has been an enormous growth of Indian talent, standing out while competing with players all over the world, but the cons of it remain unseen to the masses. The commercialization of cricket and the start of the IPL did not affect the domestic leagues or the federation, but they did affect football in the nation. In July 2023, there was a shock to Indian football fans about the authority of sports in India. Its ministry released a statement forfeiting the participation of its national football team in the upcoming Asian Games. The ministry was honest enough to show the nation where it ranks football as a sport in the country when “lack of budget” was the reason stated for such a decision. After much pressure from fans, which compelled National Team Head Coach Igor Stimac to write to the federation requesting to reverse their decision, that eventually led to it.

However, the saga did not end with this; just a month before the start of the Asian Games in China, the teams of the Indian Super League made it clear that they wouldn’t be releasing players for the continental competition as it coincided with the dates of the super league, which is to start in October. While the competition rules allow only three players over the age of 23, it was clear that the team was to be full of raw talent. Yet talented players with young blood were not allowed to represent their country in a glorified and historic competition whose even little success would have been reputed more than the stardom of franchise and commercial sports.

It’s safe to say at the very least that these franchise leagues have shifted federation football to the backdoor, and traits like local scouting and district competitions that were influential in finding underground talent have diminished.

Not being confined to the cons of franchise football. It has earned itself the reputation of providing a competition that has attracted the interest of European and South American heavyweight clubs for tie-ups and transfers of players. You are talking about a well-reputed and known competition when one of the greatest midfield players of all time, Andres Iniesta, is keen on joining— maybe not in his prime years now, but the interest was seen. It’s not just football that suffers, but it has become the fate of every sport in India that is not cricket. The flow of resources, the attention of the administration, and the PR all go towards a certain goal. While these things have been happening for decades now, it justifies the action of disrespect to the football icon Sunil Chhetri, the saga of Asian Games participation, and various other events where the inability of the authorities resulted in jeopardizing football in the country. So much so that the critics become ready to label Indian football and its athletes as ‘flops’ or failures, judging their rank and statistics in every sphere. What needs to be judged and further solved is the harshness, disrespect, and inequality Indian football has faced at the hands of the administration and even the masses.

Zubair Abdullah is a student pursuing Sociology Honours from Jamia Millia Islamia.

Edited by: Moneera Aiman