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Kerala needs to look beyond Santosh Trophy
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If the Santosh Trophy loss forces the Kerala Football Association to look into the ills plaguing the game in the State, there could be some gain from the pain in Imphal, says STAN RAYAN.
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DESPITE THE flop show in the Santosh Trophy final, there is certain smugness in the Kerala football officialdom. After all, haven't our players come farther than the game's current bigwigs, Bengal and Goa? Haven't our boys churned out some exciting come-from-behind victories in almost all their matches? And finishing runner-up is certainly better that returning with no silverware at all.
And though the side did not have big names like I. M. Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri, team spirit saw it through some close encounters. And the State Bank of Travancore factor played a big role in working out effective combinations in both the quarterfinal league and the semifinal, since a majority of the Kerala players are with the Thiruvananthapuram-based bank.
Clearly, Imphal was a tougher field than the last National Championship in Mumbai. And Manipur is a strange land. Crowd violence and the strange verdict in the abandoned semifinal between the host and Goa certainly put pressure on Kerala in the final.
"Even the World Cup isn't as important as winning the Santosh Trophy in Kerala,'' the team's coach M.Peethambaran is reported to have said before the final against Manipur.
For a State, which has seen both its star clubs, SBT and F.C. Kochin, crash out of the National League in successive years, the Santosh Trophy has been the sole consolatory factor. The Kerala Football Association too has been raising the Santosh Trophy as the big weapon against its critics for some time now.
"The KFA is happy with just the Santosh Trophy these days,'' says Olympian O. Chandrasekharan.
"True, our boys deserve a lot of credit for their performance and the three-man attack did very well in the early stages. But our full team (SBT) could not even win the second division National League last season. That should put the whole thing in proper perspective,'' said Mr. Chandrasekharan, a member of the Indian team which won the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games gold, the country's last big success at the Continental meet.
"Sadly, there is no football in Kerala now. We don't have any good tournaments now. Only Malappuram seems to be an exception. The people there are genuinely interested in football and we have a few players from the district, including captain Asif Saheer, in the State team,'' said Mr Chandrasekharan.
"And the Imphal final was often just a hit-and-run stuff. There was no trapping, the basic skill was not there. Things were much better 40 years ago,'' said the Olympian.
The Santosh Trophy is no longer the glorious thing it was, say some five or 10 years ago, agrees another former international M.M.Jacob. The game in the State too needs a big pep-up, he says.
"A doctor-friend of mine, who was in England for a few years, has a few suggestions to revive the game in the State,'' said Mr. Jacob.
The doctor, H. Ahmed, the Chief Physician at the Karothukuzhi Hospital in Aluva, did come up with some interesting suggestions. "Every district should have a league of its own. And instead of being played daily, matches should be played only during weekends, to draw the crowds,'' says Mr. Ahmed.
"I worked in Preston for five years. And some of the top clubs in the country, Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton were around 30 miles away. So, I got to see some of the best football action.
"In England, each district has three active divisions. Likewise, our top football districts like Malappuram, Kozhikode and Thrissur could have active and lively leagues of their own. And, to make it glamorous, clubs could sell their own jerseys, caps etc. And there should be regular home-and-away competition between top clubs of various districts. The prize-money too should be good,'' says the doctor, a former footballer with the Sacred Heart's College in Thevara.
"This home-and-away stuff could just be the key to reviving the game in the State. We will have supporters travelling between districts in jeeps as they used to in those glorious past. And to involve the general public, clubs should be open to more members, the public should also raise money and start new clubs,'' says Mr. Ahmed.
The KFA could also take a leaf out of the innovative Kerala Cricket Association's book. The KCA plans to bring in a few prominent businessmen into the association, on an experimental basis. Apart from allowing them to play a role in the game's administration, this move could also provide a financial boost to cricket in the State.
Clearly, someone has to set the ball rolling.
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