Viva! God’s own football team

It’s ‘Viva Kerala’ in Indian football all over again. Literally this time, because after FC Kochin — the first professio...

It’s ‘Viva Kerala’ in Indian football all over again. Literally this time, because after FC Kochin — the first professional club in India — went away from the public eye, Viva Kerala is going to try and take over as the premier football club in this soccer-crazy southern Indian state.

With a group of businessmen including a smattering of NRIs unanimously deciding ‘‘Kerala needs a club’’, Viva Kerala took shape in the form of a public limited company headed by VM Liyakat Ali in Kochi.

One is bound to be pessimistic about the idea of yet another enterprising but possibly non-sustainable venture looming large. But the club management have apparently ‘‘examined fators’’ that led to FCK’s decline. They are currently in the lower rungs of the national league. Says Babu Mather of the erstwhile FCK management, roped in to outlay a draft plan, ‘‘FCK overspent. FCK whet overboard roping in heavyweights — both Indian and foreign — and that too with a weak finance management.’’

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Having overspent in its first year, Mather says FCK could not recover from the heavy debts. ‘‘To pay off debts the FCK management kept on borrowing money from the market and things just went from bad to worse.’’

That Kerala is quite rich in footballing talent is old news. The job for Viva, according to Mather, would be to ‘‘hone this untapped talent’’.

Rule No 1 for Team Viva would be to start modestly, something FCK chose not to do. Having already registered with the Kerala Football Association (KFA), Viva will begin its long way up starting with the Ernakulam District League.

But before all that, it’s setting up the infrastructure that’s important. Recruitment forms part of it. ‘‘90 per cent of Kerala players are in the age group of 18 to 25. That is just what we hope to look at,’’ says coach TK Chathunny. ‘‘The transfer window that opens in May would be Viva Kerala’s next target.’’