Not kicked about football?

CHANDIGARH: Entering the Chandigarh Football Academy’s (CFA) training ground, one would expect instructions being shouted in Punjabi. But that’s not the case. Hindi is the language of choice. That’s because the academy hardly has any Punjabis or UT residents in its ranks, and it should worry the region’s football.
When Minerva Punjab FC came up and was fast-tracked into the I-League, many felt it will provide the lift football required in the region.However, that doesn’t look to be the case. But Minerva is on the other side of the border Chandigarh shares with Punjab. The city has its own share of problems when it comes to football.
Former India captain Harjinder Singh heads coaching at the CFA and has experienced quite a bit of the game to feels its pulse and diagnose why it’s not flourishing in Chandigarh in terms of producing quality players part of the academy here.
“We enroll 10-year-old kids at CFA through trials. Those selected, stay with us for seven years,” Harjinder says.
But most of these selected kids are from football strongholds in India, like Manipur and other northeastern states.
Do kids from Chandigarh not appear for trials?
Harjinder explains, “Like every serious academy, the CFA has a certain selection criteria. This academy has to give results, produce international players. We work on that level. Our norms are fixed, like for selection a player has to jump to a certain level, run at a particular speed and have certain ball control. None of the young footballers from Chandigarh fits these norms, so they don’t clear the trials.
“As this trend continued, the number of local kids who used to come for trials drastically dropped. Now there is a common belief among UT kids that the level of CFA is very high and we won’t qualify there,” he added.
But why there is such a yawning gap between the basic skill of a player from Chandigarh or Punjab and that from any other state? Is it because of the infrastructure, lack of training, body traits or something else?
Harjinder, who has seen and interacted with young players from the rural areas in Punjab to the urban Chandigarh, blames it on shoddy elementary coaching, especially in schools.
“There is no dearth of craze for the game in Chandigarh. Most schools have a team, a designated coach, and all this for the last 10-12 years now,” the CFA chief coach stated.
“But somewhere down the line, these coaches are distracted, in that the objective with which these programmes began in schools got lost somewhere. And these coaches are not qualified as well.”
Harjinder was quick to point how even FIFA has laid a lot of stress on grass-root coaching to improve the quality of supply chain.
“FIFA has started some coaching licences/courses where the coaches are taught how they have to deal with young footballers. But schools in Chandigarh are not focusing on this important aspect,” he added.
ROLE OF PARENTS
Captain Karnail Singh, director of UT sports department, feels that parents aren’t too kicked about football.
“This is the prime reason,” the director said. “But I feel with the under-17 World Cup to be held in India later this year, the interest in the game will re-develop among the younger generation.
“As far as not many young players from Chandigarh being in the academy is concerned, I have to say it’s their personal choice. May be the parents don’t want their children to be exposed to harsh training of a sport like football.”
Harjinder had an added point of view.
“Parents have a big role to play. If they want their child to be a footballer and be part of the CFA, then by the age of 8 or 9, they should send him to such a centre that provides quality, serious training, so that he is ready for trials at CFA or any major academy.”
And the coach highlighted another problem, which could be the bigger issue.
“Parents here are not very much interested in sports as a career for their child. They aren’t willing to give it as much importance as studies. For football, a child has to dedicate at least two hours in morning and two hours in evening for training.
“The elite families don’t send their kids at all. They can’t see their child going through the rigours. Some parents used to come to us earlier and said they want their child to train here but study in some other school and stay at home. But we told them it’s not possible… training doesn’t happen like that,” Harjinder said.
And the CFA has results to show, having followed this programme religiously since 2004.
“We have done well. We have 3-4 of our players in the senior India team currently and four of them are in the under-17 world cup squad. More than 40 of our players have played for India so far. All this we have achieved in 12 years. If we are doing that, then we have proved that we are consistent in our work,” Harjinder reflected.
FOCUS MORE ON HOCKEY
Punjab and its adjoining areas of Chandigarh and Haryana have always been hotbeds of hockey, with many Olympians and even Olympic gold medallists like the legendary Balbir Singh Sr hailing from the region.
Harjinder feels hockey gets more attention and that’s why the game and players have done well historically and even now.
“Bodies like the PIS (Punjab Institute of Sports) are focusing more on hockey. In Punjab, there are 10-15 hockey academies, whereas for football there are almost none. They say they have opened one in Mahilpur (in Hoshiarpur district), but that has been there almost since India became independent. It’s not a special academy they have opened.
“If you go there and compare the facilities and conditions to the hockey academies in Punjab, you will come to know how much focus and effort is being concentrated on hockey and how much on football,” a miffed Harjinder stated.
NEED COMMON PROGRAMME IN SCHOOLS
Both Harjinder and Captain Karnail were ready to pitch in and raise the sport’s standards in the region.
“I can only give suggestions to the administration, one of which will be to make the schools follow a common programme and let it be supervised by one single authority. That way, there will be consistency and the coaches will know what to do in order to make the young kids prepared once the trials at CFA happen,” Harjinder said.
Karnail echoed Harjinder’s view.
“We can certainly do that, but it has to come from the education department. I can provide them the ground, the coaches and everything else that’s required for the programme,” he signed off.