Real Madrid is what it is today due to the efforts of itsfounding fathers over a hundred years ago. That rather pithy observation wasmade by Hugh Kim Lewis a UEFA “A” licence coach as he talked about the myriadproblems afflicting football in the country.
Coaches, he said, held the key to the development of sportin the country and the paucity of quality coaches was a problem. Lewis felt “the insularity that bedeviled theadministrators of the game in the sport was not making it any easy. It was notunusual to see football authorities turning away individuals who wereinterested in moving into coaching because they had not played the game in thecountry. Great players do not necessarily make great coaches.” India had talentbut there were certain cultural factors that were holding back the developmentof players, according to him. Physical confrontation, which is inevitable in agame generally forces the Indian player out and that would never happen inEngland. Physical fitness, he added was another problem. The average Indianplayer lacks the stamina to play an entire match at full speed.
Coaches in India devoted much of their time to spoutingtheory instead of going over to the ground and showing their wards how itneeded to be done. Given that many were not properly trained themselves, themagnitude of the problem could only be imagined. “Kids may have talent handlingthe ball but the intelligence required off the ball is sorely lacking. This wasthe fault of the coaches who are not undergoing continuous training sessions toupgrade their skills so as to impart the skills required,” Lewis added.
For coaches like him, the rise of Indian football would be aslow and steady affair and it would take a while before the results startshowing and Indian players start displaying their skills on the fields ofEurope.
