Sponsors have to show interest: Subhas Bhowmick

New Delhi: He''s the only Indian to score a hat-trick and a double hat-trick in an international tournament. Age hasn''t toned down Subhas Bhowmick, the East Bengal coach. He still stands robust with a do-or-die attitude. He fears God, loves reading, is a disciple of Ramakrishna Math and Mission and is a rare-breed among Indian coaches who''s updated with latest soccer evolutions.He spoke to Times News Network. The excerpts:
Can the present club structure produce a professional set-up?
Unless the financial elites show their interest it''s impossible. Much alike horse-racing the public money has to be involved. The clubs too have to generate their own money. If ''Playwin'' can be legalised by the government why can''t betting in soccer be legalised?
But majority of sponsorship goes into cricket...
There was a time when baseball was slow-poisoning every other sport in Japan and Korea. But they had the zeal to market soccer and they did it. I met Jagmohan Dalmiya the other day and offered to take him to market football in India.
Shouldn''t the clubs maintain under-age teams? If so, why aren''t they doing it?
Unless the Federation forces it down their throat no club or state association will take it seriously. Only the father can control his mischievous child. Very few children do it themselves.
How''d you stop the talented youngsters from fading?
Basic education is a must for a player. Self-discipline comes next. For example, I have made a diet-chart for my boys. But I don''t stay with them round-the-clock. Then, they are expected to go to the physio regularly. If they don''t, their life-span as a player is shortened.
How would you rate the physique of Indian players?
Poor. Genetically, the modern day generation is fragile which is one of the major reasons for the poor performance over the last two decades. Hyderabad and Karnataka, that were once the supply-lines produced players with excellent physique. The day they stopped coming and playing in Kolkata, Indian soccer died it''s natural death.
Whom would you pick in an all-time Indian XI?
It''s hard, I haven''t seen much football prior to the 60s. Leaving that out, my dream-team will be: Peter Thangaraj; Jarnail Singh, T.A. Rehman, Arun Ghosh; Sudhir Karmakar, Chuni Goswami, Yusuf Khan, Tulsidas Balaram, Kempia; P.K. Banerjee, Inder Singh. Reserves: Tarun Bose, O. Chandrasekhar, Syed Nayeemuddin, Sudip Chatterjee, Gautam Sarkar, I.M. Vijayan and your''s truly.