BY AUGUSTO RODRIGUES
PANJIM:Football is a game that can turn a tickle to a scratch. It has its own ways of booting out fools. The I League is in its fourth round and the stadium in Goa and in other parts of the country is pretty silent.
Comparisons are bound to creep up. The ball is going to be played in the wrong courts. The football fields are going to be forgotten and the onus is going to be lobbed on bare chests. In the end, the game is going to be left to fend for itself.
It will survive.
Everyone knows a lot of money was pumped not just in the purchase of players but also into the marketing of the game. The players who came were old and could play little. Yet, a lot of people were there. Was it to watch them or to merely show that they were there?
At the end of the day, each one spent his money. So, no tears. Why who came and for what reason? Everyone is entitled for the tea he chooses to buy and have.
To believe football will improve if the crowds come in for a while in a year is wrong. Packed stadium does not increase the popularity of a game. Football is popular, that's why the stadiums were packed. Simple logic.
What will improve the standard of football is youth development. Only youth development. And, without a youth development programme, the game will die. Stars are born. Not often though.
The greats of the game learnt playing the game on the streets, in fields, in camps, in slums. Basically, in any place that they could roll the ball. There were no programmes then. But, there were no things that we have today. No TV. No internet. No technology. Just earth and most of the times toys that could be made from earth. One of the toys was a ball.
Football talent has not dwindled. It is suffocated. Just a few years back, football was still played on the streets and in the back yards. The streets are still there-though full of traffic-and the backyards have made way to buildings. Playing fields , in many places, are field of mayhem.
We lie to God most of the times. Shameless. We are lucky God is forgiving. To say the Hero Indian Super League (HISL) teams are focussing on youth development is a wide joke on God. None of the teams are. And when they will start is anyone's guess. At best it will happen when their pockets bulge. For that to happen, many years are needed.
Youth development is taken seriously in Goa by Salgaocar Football Club and GFDC. The binoculars are similar the pictures vary. At this time, this is not important. What is, is that children are getting a chance to play.
Salgaocar FC has been nurturing youth development since 2000. Yet, in these years I League, the team has been choked with a dearth of players. The absence of Daryl Duffy due to injury has proved that the team had no substitute for him. None who tried to replace him could shoot at goal or even manage to scare the rival goalkeeper. What happened?
Money? When the team lost their goalkeeper due to injury Subrata Paul was asked to step in. He did so in style .But, a price was paid for that. Wasn't there more money to get a striker? Or else, why wasn't there anybody from the programme who could half fill Duffy's shoes?
The answer to this could, in many ways, give us a foothold to what plagues football.
Talent scouting is important .Even if we have them, are they honest? Or do they succumb to the lure of politics? Politics here means favouritism for financial or other gains.
Football will never improve if we do not. The blame does not lie with the players or officials. It lies in us. We are part of a story; we are part of creation. It is the mindset. Minds change with time. Just like the game has changed. Good,better best.worse,worst. As long as we do not stop pedalling, we will keep going round till the ball pauses at good. Then the better and best will follow.
We have to wait. For, time does not stall. Those who need to play will play. Let us be ready to help those who want to play but cannot. After all, we are all being watched. Watching with honest intent is also a crucial part of football.
