Scoring for India

IT wasn’t a pitch where he needed to prove he was living up to a famous surname. Still,a football club in an unheralded city with nothing save a mainly student population which took its weekend EPL fix seriously would have seemed like an ambitious start-up when Rohan Gavaskar became co-owner of Pune FC with his friends,the Piramals.

Except that while he went about sincerely attempting to wield his father’s (who incidentally scored a century at Old Trafford) willow legacy,junior Gavaskar had equally and passionately followed happenings at football’s Theatre of Dreams,rooting for Manchester United. So,Pune FC was both about stepping out of Sunil Gavaskar’s shadow,and carving his own niche as club founder.

Rohan’s passion and love for the sport never went away even while he pursued cricket. Football,though,always hovered on the horizon as owning a football turned into a burning dream. “I have always wanted to be involved with football in some way. When the opportunity of Pune FC presented itself,I jumped at the chance,” he says.

It mattered little that the investment was not lucrative because the rewards he got from this season were more than what money could buy. “The success of Pune FC was very satisfying and all our good work has paid off,” he says.

Professionalism has been the key to the city club’s successful debut season in the I-League,where they finished third in what’s just the third year of their existence. “Coach Derrick Perreira,the players and the support staff have all worked very hard. It was great to qualify so soon for the first division,and then finishing third was incredible,” he says.

Having switched sports,Rohan is optimistic that football in India will pick up. “At the end of the day,people have different and personal reasons for investing money. However,with players like Sunil Chhetri playing abroad,the standard of Indian footballers will go up and that will help attract investors,” he says.

ready to strike his first DEAL

Jehan Kothary,agent

IN April this year,Kothary became only one of the three licenced football agents in the country. Kothary’s love for football developed when he was 10. Watching Italy’s Roberto Baggio score the ‘goal of the tournament’ in the 1990 World Cup against Czechoslovakia had him hooked for life. He has been an Azzuri fan since.

Kothary played football all through school and even represented local Pune-based clubs like ELSA and Deccan XI. He decided to become an agent after seeing the rapid progress of clubs,including Pune FC.

“With Pune FC doing well in the top league,I decided to make the most of an opportunity. I am sure that players will need agents like me. An agent helps a player to concentrate on football and deal with all other matters,including bagging sponsorships,” says Kothary.

Although Kothary is yet to ink his first deal for a player,he hopes to make a killing when the I-League transfer season begins later this month. “There are quite a few unofficial agents in the country. But their disadvantage is that they do not have the backing of the AIFF or FIFA. The problem with not having an official licence is that it is difficult to gain the trust of players. Also what if something goes wrong in a deal? Licenced agents ensure that all the paper work is in order,” says Kothary,who also set up a sports management company called SportNexus in 2004.

Giving up team colours for a referee’s uniform

Santosh Gayatri,referee

Most football enthusiasts his age might rather prefer wearing their team’s colours but 23-year-old Santosh Gayatri prefers donning the referee’s uniform.

But,says Gayatri,it takes someone with great stamina and tough skin to succeed in the unforgiving atmosphere of Indian football.

“It is not easy running up and down in this heat and especially with every decision of yours being criticised. There are a number of obscenities that fly your way—some more damaging than the others—but you have to be as professional as you can on the field,” says Gayatri who comes from Mumbai.

While referees in India end up copping a lot of flak—especially from foreign coaches—the youngster believes his fellow whistle-blowers were handed the raw end of the deal quite often.

“The standard of refereeing in the country is much better than the standard of football,” says Gayatri confidently. “Most of the referees aren’t bold enough to take strict decisions against erring coaches and let them go easy. Every time one of us makes a mistake,the whole bunch gets attacked,” he says.

There are times referees may look a bit out of place amidst the more physically fit players on the football field,but like Gayatri says,once the first whistle of the game is blown,there is only one boss in the middle.

CRUNCHING NUMBERS

Sujay Sharma,football analyst

The 26-year-old is the football analyst for Pune FC. He is the secret weapon in the side—one which opponents rarely see. Using video technology and game software he figures out the strengths and weaknesses of the opponents. Sharma,who previously worked with the Mahindra United football club, is also the editor of indianfootball.com in Mumbai.

For Sharma,it’s the European style of football—especially the 2001 Champions League quarterfinal tie where Bayern Munich beat Manchester United— that got him hooked to the game. Not surprisingly,he’s an ardent Munich fan now.

“I like the efficiency and determination shown by the Germans,” says Sharma. Football became his first love when he watched India play Japan in a World Cup qualifier at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. “After attending that game,I realised that there was a huge difference in the standard of their game and that of India’s. Japan was far superior. I decided to do something in football and contribute my two bits worth,” says Sharma.

But Indian football is yet to fully appreciate the likes of Sharma. “It will take at least five years for Indian clubs to fully realise the importance of having an analyst on board. At the moment they prefer to spend money on other things and ultimately the coach has to do all the analysis himself,” says Sharma. “Only an increase in the level of professionalism will result in the increase in demand for football analysts,” he says,adding,“sometimes analysts can be that difference between winning and losing”.

SOCCER MOM WHO TOOK TO THE FIELD

Shirley Singh,promoter,football academy

UNTIL two years ago,Shirley Singh was just another doting mother running after her football-crazy son on the muddy and grimy football venues around Mumbai. Singh,who runs a posh hotel in the suburbs,claims it was a serious lack of opportunity for her son Joshua to pursue his ambition—beyond those offered by the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) — that really pushed her to take things into her own hands and put in place the Indian Tigers Football Academy (ITFA).

“There were so many children with a serious passion for football,who were waking up at seven in the morning and braving the difficult ground conditions in the city. But there were no tournaments apart from the MSSA and I wanted to give them something more,” says Singh,a management graduate.

Ironically,Joshua’s affair with football only turned out to be brief fling. Music became his next infatuation but

for his mother, it’s become an abiding love.

“It started off with creating more opportunities for my son,but what has transpired is that he isn’t as interested as before and there are hordes of other children who are benefiting from the Academy now,” she says.

It was through a family friend,who knew a few people at Chelsea Football Club,that Singh got in touch with the champion English club initially. But while a few well known coaches from Chelsea did grace the ITFA with a couple of sessions during the academy’s first year,the enterprising entrepreneur says running a football academy isn’t a very profitable venture.

“We were struggling to break even during the first year,and there were times when I considered shutting the whole thing down. The kind of costs that are involved with hiring coaches and the entire paraphernalia that has to be provided to the kids is difficult to manage. It is more like a philanthropic entrepreneurship,” says Singh. “We started off in a small way in Juhu,but we have now started spreading our wings. And my major goal this season is to consolidated on the progress we have made,” she adds.

THE MAN BEFORE THE MIKE

Arunava Chaudhuri,commentator,freelance liaison officer

HE is the man who brought the Bundesliga to India,or rather,Kolkata. Chaudhuri worked behind the scenes to ink an MoU between the Bundesliga and the All India Football Federation (AIFF). He was the media liaison officer for the Germans when Oliver Kahn,the former skipper,played his last professional match in May 2008 and also toured with the German club’s second side when they played in the IFA shield.

Chaudhuri has spent most of his time in Remscheid,Germany but he is in India often,attending football forums,talking to the AIFF and having an ear to the ground with regard to the football scene in the country.

Realising that there wasn’t an up-and-running India-centric football website,Chaudhuri set up indianfootball.com in 1998.

“I may have lived half my life in Germany but that doesn’t mean I am only passionate about their football. That indianfootball.com was started over a decade ago speaks volumes of my love for Indian football,” he says.

But he believes the football set-up in India needs to get more professional. “Indian football needs qualified managers and professionals getting into the game with regard to player management,marketing,promotion. There is so much potential here and it needs to be tapped. I was always hooked to football from an early age as it is a big sport in Germany,” says Chaudhuri.

The German-born football buff now plans to move base to India. “At the moment I am looking forward to getting behind the microphone for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. But once the World Cup is over I want to head to India.” Chaudhuri has been on expert panels on leading sports channels and also on the radio.

Between 2000 and 2001,he was the liaison officer when the Indian national team toured England and he has also organised training camps for the India Under-17 side in Germany from as early as 2002.

But Chaudhuri,who is an avid blogger,isn’t sure if he will be able to make a living out of Indian football. “I am not sure but I am ready to give it a shot. I believe the sport in India need people like me. Professional management is the need of the hour.”

FIXING PLAYERS ON FIELD

Shweta Manerikar,physiotherapist

TWENTY-seven-year-old Manerikar started off as a freelance physiotherapist two years ago and was introduced to her present job by Pune FC’s full-time physio Tariq Wasim Shaikh.

But it’s only when she got a real-time experience of what her job entails that Manerikar got hooked. “In my first game I was called to the field. I had to diagnose a player’s problem in a second and give the right medication. That is when I realised how exciting my profession was,” says Manerikar,who was initially more inclined towards cricket and tennis,sports her father loved.

For someone who turned to physiotherapy as a second choice—her first choice was an MBBS degree—Manerikar is pretty passionate about her job. “It is better to be with a football team rather than at the hospital,” she says.

Over the years,the demand for physiotherapists in Indian football teams has gone up,a rise Manerikar puts down to an increase in the number of foreign players. “Foreign players are used to having a physiotherapist around. As more second division clubs turn professional,the need for physios has increased. Every professional team requires at least two physios.” And Manerikar is happy to be one of them.

MANAGEMENT GRADUATES IN FOOTBALL NURSERY

IIM-Kozhikode-SEPT tie-up

EVERY year,12 management students of the Indian Institute of Management,Kozhikode,make their way to the Sports and Education Promotion Trust (SEPT),a football nursery in Kozhikode. This has been the practice for over four years now.

SEPT was established to tap footballing talent in far flung corners of Kerala. When it came to honing talent,SEPT was sure of getting the best out of their wards,but it wasn’t very confident of promoting the game and marketing.

This is where the IIM students come in. “Working with these management students has been a boon. We have been able to project to the outside world and to people who matter,especially those who will support us in the future,how we hone talent at the grassroots,” says Arun Kumar,chairman,SEPT.

Says Prof KK Ramesh,in-charge of the Social Development Project of IIM-K,“The students were amazed that 5s and 7s games in Kozhikode are played in front of packed houses,while even certain Santosh Trophy games,where at times entry is free,witness empty stands. The football craze in Kozhikode and northern Kerala was an eye-opener for our students,so we decided to send them to SEPT as part of their Social Development Project.”

The challenges of marketing and promoting a product are what the students learn from in their time spent at SEPT. “Last year,a student prepared a project report and went to New Delhi to meet the Sports Minister and top ministry officials. He couldn’t get an appointment. But it is all part of the learning process,” says Prof Ramesh,an associate professor at IIM-K.

Next year,the professor wants his wards to go a step further and pitch SEPT to the All India Football Federation. “If our students are successful it will help them and also help young budding footballers,” adds Ramesh.

Mumbai’s football guide

Sailesh Karkera,portal promoter

HE is an enthusiastic figure on the football field—tweeting away rapidly,updating the city faithfuls with live scores of football matches at Cooperage or photographing the prize distribution ceremony at the end of the day. Perhaps there is no other way to describe the 26-year-old from Malad than calling him a football fanatic. Karkera is the brain behind FootballMumbai.com,the one-stop guide to all football events—including results and updates of every possible league in the city from the sixth division right up to the I-league.

“Football has been my passion from the time that I can remember. And I really wanted to do something for Mumbai football,as it was receiving little or no coverage,” he explains.

Coming from a middle-class family—his parents are bank employees—it wasn’t easy for Karkera to pursue his passion. In fact,yielding to his family,he even took a five-year sabbatical from football to work in a call centre.

“Those were the worst five years of my life. I desperately wanted to get back to football and had some plans to at least alter the way the sport was being handled. And I needed to start somewhere and that’s why I thought about the website for Mumbai football,” he says.

The opposition from his family,he says,only ended up spurring his dream. “It was difficult reacquainting myself with guys whom I had known so well before my forced hiatus from football. But I reached out to them and we have made a lot of progress this year,” he says.

Karkera,who also has a coaching and referee licence,says while his ambitious project isn’t exactly a money spinner,he gets by,assisted largely by a bunch of volunteers,who write and also double up as photographers.

And now that he’s back in the game,he intends to stay there.