Why does India need a football team, badly!

The other day as I was about to waste my entire evening time on some home assignments, a very important thought popped up in my head. As legend would have it, such thoughts prevail in my mind only when I am engaged in study-related work. Anyways, I do not consider home assignments to be study-related work, as I have just stated. They are equivalent to punishments, which should be given only to criminals in Tihar Jail.

Leaving aside discussions on Tihar Jail, where high status criminals live life king-size,let me go back to my head, where the 'thought' popped up.It was,more or less,a question. The question was: Why doesn't India have a descent football team that can qualify for the FIFA World Cup? How does the AIFF (the country's football controlling board) doesn't find 11 good footballers out of a population of over a BILLION people, who can play good football,  for our country?

While many would argue with the credibility of my question, I still want to seek the reason .This must not be taken as an insult to those 11-16 players who work hard day and night to play football for our country.I have immense respect for those players and wish them luck in their career. Keeping luck aside, the football scenario of our country is a worse one.While the use of the word "worse" may sound worser, India's FIFA ranking of 145 (current rankings) doesn't help either. With a population less than half of India's population, Spain currently tops the rankings.The main motive of my blog post is not to mock our national football team. I just want football to be  loved by all, much like how  Katrina Kaif is loved by all, boys and girls alike of our country. While cricket takes the lion's share of fans (more precisely,the dinosaurs' share), football resembles those untouched objects kept in our homes at a corner, covered with layers of dust. Many of our countrymen probably doesn't even know that a football team of our own country exists, while they keep posters of cricketers even in their bathrooms, as if they act like bathroom fresheners.

Of late the Indian team has won a couple of trophies like the Nehru Cup and the AFC Challenge Cup, which  qualified them for AFC Asia Cup after a gap of some 24 years. See- Indian Football Team Facts. So, it can't be entirely said that the Indian team is not a good one. But,being an ardent football fan, I would love to see my country play in the FIFA World Cup, which is the ultimate tournament.I am tired of rooting for England in World Cups and Euros.After all,the Indian national football team qualified for the 1950 FIFA World Cup, only to be not sent by the AIFF because of travel expenses and other reasons(the barefoot incident is supposedly a hoax reason.Read:  FIFA World Cup 1950 ). If our national team could qualify back in 1950,even though qualification rules were different, why can't the same happen in this era? We mustn't be content with only the Nehru Cup and Asia Cup qualification. For this to happen, first and foremost, the club football scenario in our country must improve.While the ongoing i-League in its present form is doing every bits, there must be an improved format that suits the mindset of the Indian people and reach out to the masses.After all, how many Indians watch the i-League? The IMG-Reliance, which is planning to hold an IPL-style football tourney might be a stepping stone to it.Even though this tournament is not the ultimate one, it still has the potential to attract more Indians to this beautiful game. As I don't have any experience in running any sport and I believe neither do you, so I don't have any million-rupee advice to the administrators for improving football. Being the controllers of the sport, every tiny bits must be done by them, so that love for football reaches to each one of us, Indians. Stadiums should be improved and decorated. Young players must be coached and developed in a proper way,just the way they teach subjects like Mathematics in schools.Apart from these, we,fans must also contribute in a massive way. We must make some some room in our heart for this sport, in accordance with cricket. I am loving the way ESPN-Star has used Hindi commentary in broadcasting Barclays Premier League matches, to reach to more Indians. But seriously speaking, I wouldn't prefer listening to Hindi commentary in football,specially the Premier League matches. It would destroy the fun and joy of those English commentators who give a real feel of the matches while commentating. But nevertheless, whatever can be done for promoting football in our country must be appreciated. So, as the great Sachin Tendulkar has a wish of seeing the Indian national team in the FIFA World Cup 2022, I have similar fantasies. But I know it would take time. Probably some 15-20 years, at the least, if not more, by what has been the progressive report of  football in India. But I do hope the process is quicker.

Till then, enjoy playing FIFA, as I do.