A tough ride to the top

HE MAY not be a footballing icon, in the strict sense. But Jo Paul Anchery is different. If one were to recount the number of individuals who have strove hard to keep Indian football afloat in recent times, none can miss this genial Kerala player, whose capabilities as a striker, defender and playmaker have earned him respect from his peers and coaches alike.

True Anchery may not rate in popularity charts as much as his illustrious colleagues, Bhaichung Bhutia and I. M. Vijayan, but the fact remains he had his own supporters through the many ups and downs of his career. What cannot be set aside is that Anchery's exalted position in the team was not acquired overnight.

It had been a tough ride to the top for this 27-year-old. And as he looks back to all those days of toil to build up the reputation that he enjoys today, Anchery has reasons to be excited. Indeed he has come a long way since being identified by a local coach, Joseph Raice, soon after having passed out from school and blossomed into a creditable performer through the next few years. Nevertheless, it took five years for Anchery to get his initial break which finally came in the shape of his selection to the Indian under-19 team in 1992.

Anchery has not looked back since. Selected to the Indian under- 21 team for the now defunct Rajiv Gandhi international tournament (1993), his consistent show earned him an offer from State Bank of Travancore. The Santosh Trophy debut followed at Cuttack in 1994 and as luck would have it was straightaway selected to represent the country in the Independence Cup tournament in Doha the same year.

In Doha, he was to emerge as the `Best player of the tournament', despite his team's limited success and on return was to join Mohun Bagan, Calcutta. The consistency that he showed during the year also fetched him the AIFF's `Player of the Year' award. He moved over to JCT in 1995, courted more successes, by playing a pivotal role in many triumphs enjoyed by the Phagwara outfit that season. Besides, Anchery was also a member of the Indian team for the Jawaharlal Nehru Gold Cup tournament in Calcutta, and of the under-23 side which took part represented in the pre- Olympic tournament.

By now a recognisable figure in the circuit, Anchery, however, was to suffer much in 1996 when a nagging injury laid him low. But he was back with a bang in 1997 and now under the colours of FC Kochin, Anchery was prominent in India's triumph at the SAFF tournament in Kathmandu, besides India's first ever semifinal entry in the Jawaharlal Nehru Gold Cup tournament in Kochi. In 1998, he shifted to Mohun Bagan again and also represented the country in the Bangkok Asian Games besides helping Bengal to a memorable triumph in the Santosh Trophy at Chennai.

Rejoining FC Kochin last season, he was soon made captain of the side which finished fourth in the recent IV National football league. Last year, he was a member of the Indian team for the Asian Cup qualifiers and prior to that the skipper of the Indian team at the SAF Games and pre- Olympic tournament.

On the eve of the 56th National championship, at Thrissur, Anchery, playing for Kerala for the first time in six years, was named captain of the home team and naturally, was quite elated while speaking to TheHindu.Excerpts from the interview:

Question: Congratulations! But there should be a lot of pressure on you especially as the crowd will not be willing to settle for anything less than a home team triumph here?

Answer: Yes, it is true that all of us are bound to experience considerable pressure through the next fortnight. But, I think, we are a balanced side and we would be able to live up to the expectations and help Kerala to regain the Santosh Trophy. Our main worry will be Bengal and Goa, though I do not like to discount the chances of the other teams in the fray.

Q: Most of your team members were involved in the National League until late last month. And now to play such a key tournament like the Santosh Trophy within a short gap, don't you think this will affect your side's chances?

A: You are right. However, the same is the plight of almost all the other teams with the exception of Services and Tamil Nadu. It would have been ideal if we had at least a month's rest. But being professionals it is our job to perform under any circumstances.

All these problems occur because we do not have a well-defined calendar. It is time we chalked our programmes in advance and tried to stick to it quite religiously. Not only would it help players, but also the local organisers and more importantly Indian football as such. The players have suffered a lot due to the clash in dates of important tournaments. Last year itself, my club was forced to withdraw from the IFA Shield because the dates clashed with the Rovers Cup. At the same time, quite a few of us were also in the Indian camp and felt rather helpless.

Q: Besides the need of a calendar, what else would you advocate on behalf of the players for the overall improvement of Indian football?

A: A calendar is indeed the first priority. Its absence now gives only a limited period for recovery. And further very little time for training, which should be a continuous process to work on the shortcomings of a team or to try out something innovative. This was felt by many players and coaches in the just concluded National league as the AIFF insisted that the teams should travel by train whenever the journey was less than 30 hours.

Then again in my opinion the teams should be asked to play only one match a week, especially in the NFL. That would give the players sufficient time to recover and prepare for the next match. Besides, I also feel that Indian football would be far better off than today if players are provided greater exposure abroad. What we lack today is match experience. This is a point which has been raised time and again but little has been done in this regard.

Why I see this as something important is because of my own experience in 1995 when we were lucky to tour Belarus and play a five-match series there prior to our participation in the pre- Olympic tournament in Oman. Though we did not win any match in Belarus, the exposure gave us all tremendous confidence and in the pre-Olympic tournament we did give a fair account of our strengths particularly in the match against the host country. In fact, we led at the end of the first-half before a penalty was awarded against us and we finally lost 2-3. We may have been defeated that day but not disgraced.

If we had the same opportunity last year before the Asian Cup qualifiers in Abu Dhabi, I am sure we would have come out with some creditable results. All we were engaged in before this tournament were the two practice matches arranged against the trainees for the NIS coaching diploma. Yet, we were able to take the lead against the host UAE before we succumbed under pressure towards the end of the match.

From experience, I can also tell you that we are yet to work out suitable strategies on how to hold on to a lead especially during the last 10 to 20 minutes of a match. This has happened on many occasions in the past, the latest being the match I referred to in Abu Dhabi. As a measure to overcome this problem too, I feel foreign exposure is a must. Perhaps, if we win a few matches abroad, I think it will also help us to slowly but surely regain our old glory.

Q: What about training facilities?

A: Well, it is another area that requires immediate attention. Yet, I would say things are far more better than it used to be. The most important thing is the maintenance of practice grounds and this is an area which has been totally neglected by us. In my opinion, I think it is imperative that these grounds should be as good as match grounds. It would be only then that the players would be able to train without any fear of injury.

Now, we have good grounds in most of the centres. But a player would be able to come up with a good performance only if he has been trained in such conditions. To expect him to come up with a perfect chip and to control the ball skillfully on grass after being trained in a hard mud ground is ridiculous. Then, I also feel that the players should have the facility to watch video recordings of at least all the key matches in which they figure as they provide them with the opportunity to assess their own performance and correct themselves.

For this Doordarshan should provide quality coverage of matches. As you know, FC Kochin lost its match against BSF in Ludhiana recently. And when I came to know that the encounter was being shown on TV, I was anxious to watch our own performance and see what went wrong. But to my dismay, there were no replays in slow motion and the coverage was so bad that I had to finally switch off.

Q: Any regrets of having chosen a career in football?

A: No, never. In fact, I am only happy that I chose this sport as a career. It has given me everything including the chance to settle down in life. More importantly, I consider it a privilege for having had this opportunity to don the national colours. In more ways than one, I owe a lot to the game, which has provided me joy all along.

A. VINOD Thrissur

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