Rufus D’Souza, a 90-year-old coach from Fort Kochi, Kerala, has been honoured by Borussia Dortmund for his lifelong commitment to the sport

Whenever the Indian national football team gets thrashed by its rivals in international hustings, the national coach Igor Stimac has a readymade answer. “This result is on expected lines. There is nothing unusual in this result,” Stimac tells the media. He has been the chief coach of the country since 2019 and according to FIFA, the world body that controls the game, India’s ranking is 121. At a time when India is on an all out war to emerge as the third largest economy in the world, out national football side reminds one of a rudderless ship getting battered and bruised in the high seas.

There is nothing surprising about the performance of the Indian football team in the international arena as since the last 1960s, the quality of the national side is always on a downward journey from which it has not improved. The introduction of Indian Super League and arrival of players from foreign countries gave some hope to the average football lovers in the country bit it has been fizzled out. Most of the players donning the boots in the ISL are those who had had failed to make it to the national or club teams of their country. Hence ISL became a dumping ground for burnt-out players and discarded coaches. It is not known whether Stimac belongs to the lot of discarded coaches. But the Croatian has failed to make any impact in Indian football.

This is being written in the backdrop of a recent development that took place in Fort Kochi, Kerala’s football nursery. Rufus D’Souza, the 90-year old football coach based in this picturesque town, was honoured by Borussia Dortmund, the world famous football club in Germany that plays in Bundesliga, the top tier of the country’s professional league. The honour was in recognition of the hard work and dedication with which Rufus has taken up football coaching. Every morning at 5.30 sharp Rufus reaches the colonial era Parade Ground and coaches hundreds of students. 

It does not matter for Rufus whether it is raining or the blowing of cold wind from the adjacent Arabian Sea. Football Uncle, as he is addressed in reverence by children and their parents, is an uncompromising task matter. Punctuality and discipline are his forte. Rufus does not charge any fees or donation from the players. But the condition is that they should be at the stadium at the stroke of 5.30 without fail. Latecomers have no place in Rufus’ classes. He is not an ordinary football coach. For eight decades he has lived only for football and hockey. Coaching is an act of Tapasya for this former professional footballer who had donned boots for teams like Netaji Sporting and WIMCO of Madras. He is the first Keralite who has teamed up with Brazilian Da’Cunha while playing for WIMCO, one of the bigwigs of Indian football in the 1950s. After hanging his boots for good in late 1950s, Rufus took up coaching in a big way. The players moulded by him resembles the who’s who of Indian football. Xavier Pious, Hamilton Bobby, Sebastian Netto, former Kerala captain T  A Jaffer and the list goes on. Rufus revived and rejuvenated a club Santos in his neighborhood. “The name was my tribute to the all time great of world football, Pele. 

The great master sent me a letter of appreciation when he came to know that we have a club by name Santos,” says Rufus with his childlike enthusiasm. In his hectic schedule of coaching and taking Santos throughout South India to play in tournaments, Rufus forgot his own life. His passion for soccer kept him away from marriage and family.

Here is a football guru who breaths, sleeps and lives football. Many reputed coaches from Europe had come to Fort Kochi after hearing about the football odyssey of Rufus who adores S A Rahim, the Hyderabad man with the Mida’s Touch. “There were good coaches like Rahim, Manna, Chuni Goswamy, Sukhwinder and Jarnail Singh. Instead of foreign coaches we should opt for foreign managers who know the intricacies of football,” says Rufus.

Strange as it may seem, this desi guru has never been approached by the football bosses of the country to coach the national side for reasons they only know. Rufus, who is walking briskly to the sunset, is sad about the state of affairs of Indian football. He describes Indian Soccer League as a major fraud committed on the country. The period from March to May was the football season of India. Each of the 14 districts in the State had an all-India football tournament. All teams including the Big Three of Calcutta (Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting) were regular features in these tournaments and the players were household names. “The tournaments and the teams died a natural death for lack of sponsors. When there are no tournaments and teams, there would not be players anywhere. The ISL does not offer any chance to upcoming players,” says Rufus who is getting ready to fly away to Dortmund as the guest of the football giant. 

(The writer is special correspondent with The Pioneer; views are personal)