Promoting football

Sir — It is beyond anybody’s comprehension as to how pint-sized countries continue to put up awe-inspiring performances on the football field to bring glory to their people, while India, a nation of 1.27 billion, continues to languish near the bottom of the rung, without any efforts being made to regain the glory of the 50s and the 60s which, arguably, was the golden age of Indian soccer. 

Of course it would be  foolhardy to believe that in our country, any football game involving the national team would stir up national passions the way cricket does. 

Yet, blaming cricket for all that ails the development of other sports disciplines in the country would be too abrupt a way to get out of a sensible argument on why the world’s only genuine mass game, football, is unable to take a great leap forward. 

It is not that football in India has not evoked enough enthusiasm and encouraged more and more youngsters to take up the game seriously. The array of premier clubs across the country and the host of tournaments conducted demonstrate that football is enormously popular here. Blaming the governing bodies of the game in the country for the sorry state of the game today also would be too easy a way to shift the onus elsewhere, although it is a fact that the Indian football federation needs to do a lot more than what it has been engaged in until now. 

Perhaps things will change for the better with the arrival of the new super league football tournament, inspired by the huge success of the Indian Premier league cricket tournament. With enthusiasts envisaging a keen interest in the game, the 2014 Indian Super league season is all set to kick-off soon.