India’s hopes of participating in football in the Olympic Games were dashed when it lost on aggregate against Qatar. There is nothing surprising about this as Qatar was the more fancied side and nobody had expected India to win. The worry lies elsewhere. What will be the state of football in the days to come in this country? Indian football was restricted to just four states for long: Punjab, Goa, Bengal and Kerala. Now, with JCT Phagwara deciding to disband its football team and the game languishing in Kerala, it is left to Goa and Bengal to carry on the show. However, there is every reason to be worried about the future of football in Bengal.

First, there is the question of finances. Sport, today, is an expensive business and players and clubs cannot survive without sponsors. West Bengal’s economy does not allow for such sponsorship; there are no big industrial houses to start with. The Big Two of Calcutta football, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, share a common sponsor — the liquor baron, Vijay Mallya, from distant Bangalore. This gentleman is involved in the Indian Premier League in a big way. His interest in football, particularly Calcutta football, will wane if the two teams continue to fail to deliver the goods in the I-League. Where will the funds come from then?

Without funds, there will be no foreign players who rule the roost at present. Nothing wrong about this as football clubs the world over look to hire foreign players. When the teams — big or small — play, it is these players that their supporters bank upon. This, of course, implies that the local boys have been mostly playing a supporting role. Where have the Goswamis, the Banerjees, the Senguptas or the Deys gone? The situation may change for the better in this aspect but the question about funds will remain.

Big problems

The lack of concern on the part of the authorities for junior footballers has added to the problem. These players should be looked at as talent pools to replenish Calcutta football. Common sense suggests that they be treated with care. They have to play on grounds that are not fit for any game. Heavy monsoon showers turn these into vast sheets of water, and the players are forced to play a game that resembles water polo and not football. When the water recedes, it leaves the ground so heavy that no meaningful football is possible. At other times, the grounds are mere dust bowls with only a few patches of green. Such are the conditions that junior footballers are expected to contend with.

Improving ground conditions or providing proper medical facilities in cases of injury — common in a body contact game such as football — is clearly too big an ask for those in charge of the game. But what they surely can do is change the local football calendar to avoid the fury of the monsoon. This will at least ensure that there are no abandoned ties that put added pressure on the purses of the small clubs. The players will be able to play in agreeable weather conditions. In Britain, for instance, football, cricket and other games are played in summer and not in the biting cold.

There are other issues as well. The smaller clubs do not own tents on the Maidan. Consequently, the boys have problems while changing. This, despite the fact that tents are held on to by those who had been big names in the hoary past and have practically no interest in the game at present. Many such problems plague Bengal football at the lower levels that are supposed to feed the state and national side with players. These issues need to be dealt with. Otherwise football in Bengal will go the Punjab way. A time may come when talking about football in Bengal will be akin to talking about history.