Mewalal

Ranchi, June 26: Olympians Mewalal and Sailen Manna are a dejected lot nowadays. They are not at all happy with the progress of the game.

With Indian football failing to make its presence felt in the international circuit, the former footballers feel that the standard of Indian soccer has gone way down from its earlier days and if proper guidance is not given, things are bleak for the game in the future.

Recently in the city to participate in the Run for Jharkhand, organised by the Jharkhand Olympic Association today, Mewalal without naming anybody said, ?Now the Indian Football Association is headed by a politician. Therefore, 50 per cent of his work is as a politician and the other 50 is as a president. So he is not able to dedicate his entire work on the development of the game,? said Lal.

After being instrumental in earning laurels for the country and challenging European teams during 1940s-1960s, which is often termed as the golden era of Indian soccer, the Olympians feel that proper guidance should be given to the players to win back the lost glory. If these footballers are to be believed, tapping the talents at the grass root level and then nurturing them is what should be done to improve Indian soccer.

Lal further alleged that there has also been a decline in the number of foreign teams coming into the country to play matches with the Indian team. ?When we played, four to five foreign teams used to regularly visit our country to play exhibition matches. This helped us with the techniques. We used to learn the nitty-gritty of their style. But now everything has stopped,? said Lal.

?How many foreign teams come nowadays? Let alone the European teams, even the Asian teams are not coming here to play. It is sad to see the standard of football decline day by day,? Lal said.

According to Sailen Manna, lack of sponsors and proper ground conditions are also to be blamed for the failure in the development of the game. ?Foreign tips are necessary. We used to shoot at once when we got a free ball in the penalty box but now players lack one touch play. Too much ball possession is hampering the game,? Lal said.