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PHOTO: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.

KICK off The football infrastructure in Bangalore is sorely lacking in quality

The last decade has seen football in Karnataka and particularly Bangalore, go into a slump and officialdom is largely to be blamed for it. The overall scenario of football in the country, despite the recent Nehru trophy triumph, is nothing to write home about. India continues to languish amongst the 140’s in the FIFA rankings.

The ongoing Durand Cup wherein the “big three” from Kolkata stayed away as the IFA Shield was in progress there, is a pointer to that effect.

Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) and Hindustan Aeronautics Sports Club (HASC) the two big names carried the hopes of the State football followers, to bring back the lost glory.

Sadly ITI wound up without a whimper after “dilly-dallying” for a few seasons in the elite National Football League (NFL). HASC since have been in and out.

All this stemmed from the fact that there was no proper structure or system in place back home. Local players moved out for “greener-pastures” and made it big with the likes of Carlton Chapman and Shanmugam Venkatesh even leading the national sides for a couple of seasons. But the men who matter did not learn and failed to open their eyes to the ground reality.

BDFA conducts league in three divisions with nearly 25-28 teams in the fray. But when it comes to team selections there is little “futuristic” thinking and no headway made in the recent past. But most appalling is the state of the ground and the stadium itself!

With increased number of teams in the Super Division, one fathomed a glimmer of hope. But sadly, the progress has stuttered. If more the merrier was the bottom line and “from quantity one could get quality” a fastidious hope, the experiment as on date has gone down the drain, while the ground remains water-logged.

Rains that have lashed the city in good measure over the last month did render the ground unplayable but never in the recent years have so many days of football action been put off. The authorities should once and for all take measures to avert frequent cancellation of matches due to water logging.

And the stadium structure in itself is appalling to say the least. There were talks about a FIFA grant for the academy for improvement of the structure, awaiting clearance from the corporation clearance was awaited. But there seems to be little progress on that end too. Or at least nothing has been made public, yet.

The quality of teams accommodated in the Super Division too is pathetic. Oriental FC and Royal FC have surely gained a backdoor entry into the top league and have been roundly thrashed. Same is the case with renowned teams of past like ADE and LRDE, which would have been relegated to the bottom, but for the largesse shown by the District body to expand the league. ADE and LRDE have done nothing of note to stay in the elite group. Even otherwise the league with 10 teams in the fray had taken over four months to be completed in the past, and now with 15 teams figuring, not to mention the frequent cancellation and abandoning of matches, it’s anybody’s guess as to when the last of the league encounters will be played.

Last year’s edition was completed about a week before this year’s league commenced on August 16. With the likes of K.G.S. Alva as president and the energetic S.M. Balu as its secretary, there is much expectation from the present committee to bring about a sea change in the game’s development in the near future, at least in the city. Amongst other plans, the proposal to create a player pool (from the ongoing league) of about 28 to 30 players to represent Karnataka in the Santosh trophy and other invitation tourneys is on the right lines and augurs well for the future.

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