Sport - Football

Vijayan’s plans augurs well for the sport in the State

— File Photo

Raman Vijayan.

CHENNAI: Twelve years ago when Raman Vijayan left Indian Bank and its football team for good to try his luck in a Kolkata club, nine out of ten people he met had said he had made a mistake of sacrificing a secure bank job.

But he trusted his instincts and went and as it happened he became a hit there.

East Bengal, Mohammedan Sporting and then a brief foray to Mumbai’s Mahindra United all combined to make him one of the country’s lethal strikers. He played for India for nearly half a decade.

“I cherish the moment when I top scored in the national league for two seasons,” said the lanky footballer, who was in the city (Chennai) from where it all began and where be believes he still has a job to do: to prop up the game from grassroots level.

“I was sure if I had talked of starting an academy or any development scheme, people here are bound to dissuade me, tell me not to waste time and money. So I decided to make my own survey of the city’s possibilities vis a vis football and I am just amazed at the facilities that exist but rarely talked about,” Vijayan said in a chat.

“Paucity of grounds” is the most-heard reason for the state of football in the city. But in the ten days that Vijayan had toured various localities he found any number of schools which could offer wonderful ground facilities.

Not just that, he found in such schools, football was a key sport but there was no serious effort to harness good talent. There was no scheme to tap talents and channelise them.

“Invariably I find football ended with school-level curriculum,” Vijayan said after his discussions with a like-minded school sports official.

Vijayan believes there is scope for a top quality academy in the city which can have a tie-up with leading football academies like Tata Football Academy in Jamshedpur and Premier Indian Football Academy (PIFA) in Mumbai and also have links with football setup in Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia.

It’s his vast experience of playing in Kolkata and meeting people of various hues that strengthens his belief that things can change in Chennai and hence Tamil Nadu if there is proper means to guide talents.

“There is money in football in India.

“A footballer on an average starts with a Rs. 6-lakh contract in a good club and with fame it rises. Sunil Chettri, the current sensation draws upwards of Rs. 35 lakh a year.

“From Tamil Nadu alone, there are around a dozen players who play professional football and earn sizeable money. I am definite if I can get my dream project through, with sponsors backing, it will open new vistas to fame and fortune for footballers in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Belief is his watchword and he already has some hardworking officials to back him.

Vijayan is confident and if his football career is anything to go by, the man knows it pays to take risks.

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