Around five to six decades ago, when cricket was yet to become the irreplaceable mass culture phenomenon it is now, football and hockey used to rule the roost in the City of Destiny.
Back then, the city had produced many footballers who not only played at the State and national level but had also made their mark in the famed football clubs of Kolkata.
Today, football and hockey have become pale shadows of their glorious past, as players struggle for years in hopes of bagging that elusive spot in the national side before eventually hanging up their boots.
Disenchantment is writ large on the face of P. Kondala Rao, a former international footballer from the city, when he is asked for his take on the current state of football.
“The last time that Andhra Pradesh made it to even the quarter-finals of the Santosh Trophy was back in 1987. It has been 35 years since we have made a mark in the topmost national football tournament. How can our local footballers aspire for a national career when this is the state of affairs?” he asks.
Rich legacy
The city can boast of a respectable football legacy as it had produced several footballers who specialised in the Ginga style of football that was popular in Brazil. K. Appalaraju and S. Varahalu were two such footballers who were renowned for their gameplay. “Their names would echo across grounds in West Bengal whenever they would breach the opposition’s defence with their speed and dribbling skills,” recalls Mr. Kondala Rao.
“The last time that Andhra Pradesh made it to even the quarter-finals of the Santosh Trophy was back in 1987. It has been 35 years since we have made a mark in the topmost national football tournament. How can our local footballers aspire for a national career when this is the state of affairs?”P. Kondala RaoFormer international footballer
Dr. S.V. Adinarayana, a Padma Shri awardee, who apart from being a noted orthopaedic surgeon is also a football enthusiast and philanthropist who had done yeoman service to the game, once told The Hindu that football first moved into the port city of Vizagapatam (as Visakhapatnam was then called) in the latter part of the 1890s, when a few Parsi settlers in Old Town saw some personnel of the East Coast Battalion of the British Army playing the game.
Quickly learning the game, the Parsis formed a team with a few locals and named it the Premji Football Club. They even challenged the British personnel to a game. Playing barefoot, the local club lost against the might of the English, but won the admiration of their opponents as well as the locals, thus sparking widespread interest in the game.
Subsequently, the game grew in popularity, and by the 1950 and 60s, it reached a different level altogether with the entry of Appalaraju, who played for India in the AFC Asian Cup in 1964 as well as the Olympic qualifier in the same year.
Rise and fall of hockey
The rise and fall of hockey in the city is similar to that of football. The sport saw its finest days in the city between the ‘60s and the ‘90s.
Ravi Shankar, former State hockey player and president of Friends Hockey Association, recalled an anecdote during a conversation with The Hindu. “Sometime in the late 1970s, not a single hockey player from Vizag was selected for the State team. A 12-member squad, comprising mostly Anglo-Indians and led by an extremely miffed captain Mallik, made their way to Vijayawada and demanded an audience with the selectors, who informed them that the selection process was over. The Vizag team then sought a match with the State team, which was granted by the selectors. By half-time, the State team was down 6-0 to the Vizag team. To prevent further embarrassment, the selectors stopped the match and offered to take three or four boys from the Vizag squad into the State team. The Vizag team, though, said that they would only play if all of them were selected, and walked off. That was the glory of Vizag hockey back then,” Mr. Ravi Shankar said.
Nowhere to play
On why both the games have seen such a downfall, Mr. Kondala Rao points to the lack of grounds.
“In those days, we had grounds to practice, but now we are struggling to find a decent football field. A few grounds are available with the PSU authorities but they do not allow us to use them and the charges for hiring the venues are steep. In those days, entry used to be free,” recalls Mr. Kondala Rao.
Mr. Kondala Rao’s view was echoed by Peter Das, a former national-level hockey player. “The same is the case with hockey and the absence of club games and leagues is hurting the sport,” said Peter Das.
The relentless rise of cricket has also played a part in denting the popularity of football and hockey. The unlikely triumph of the Indian cricket team in the 1983 World Cup, led by an indefatigable Kapil Dev, firmly cemented the sport’s authority over the two sports.
“At one point, we had at least 60 football clubs including the institutional ones such as Visakhapatnam Port Trust and Railways. And we had three divisions — A, B and C — playing the football league. Today, we have only around 30 clubs, including the seven PSU teams,” says K Gopalakrishna, president, Andhra Pradesh and Visakhapatnam Football Association.
Government initiative
Many former footballers and hockey players feel that the State government should be more proactive in administering the sports and sought their intervention in the functioning of the associations.
“The government should build more stadiums and allot playing fields for practice. The government should also focus on building sports infrastructure. Till date, there is only one astro turf hockey ground in A.P., which is in Kakinada. The other one is owned by the Eastern Naval Command and it is being used only by the Services teams. The government should take a cue from States such as Haryana and Punjab, where there are over 50 astro turfs in both the States combined. Even Odisha has done a great job in promoting hockey and today, it has a state-of-the-art hockey infrastructure,” said Ravi Shankar.
