Professionalism: The missing part of Indian football by Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran, India May 6, 2003

All India Football Federation

There are lots of basic, essential ingredients missing from Indian football and professionalism is the key ingredients among them all. The question is why has India failed to bring full professionalism into football so far? There are lots of reasons and circumstances that prevent Indian football from adopting full professionalism. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) the governing body that controls the game in India is basically responsible for the current mess in Indian football. AIFF has not yet realized the importance of placing professionally competent professionals into various areas of the game. Though AIFF has appointed Stephen Constantine a professional coach as a head coach of Indian senior and under-23 teams. But this move is not enough to change the current scenario of Indian football. Placement of competent professionals in various areas of the game such as administration, marketing, media, youth development, coaching, officiating, organisation, etc. is the need of the hour.
When the National Football League was started in the 1996 for the first time in the history of Indian football it was widely publicized that the league will turn into full professionalism within 5 years however so far there is no sign of the league turning professional. The league started with a bang - high profile sponsor Philips India with the private television network Star Sports covering the league. But the very next year Star Sports withdrew its coverage and a year later Philips India also withdrew sponsorship of the league, the reason being the poor management and marketing of league. At present AIFF is finding it hard to find sponsors for the league. The just concluded 7th edition of the National Football League was sponsored by the Government owned oil companies. Many events like the Federation Cup and other premier club championships is also not taking place regularly due to a lack of sponsors. Sponsors are running away from Indian football because they are not able to get their due mileage that they deserve. Government owned television channel (Doordharsan) is currently airing the league for the Indian masses but the channel is not popular among the population due to a variety of reasons and thus sponsors and football lovers are deprived of their respective interests. There is neither a marketing division nor a marketing strategy in AIFF's kitty to attract the Indian masses. Though AIFF has hired a marketing agent to market football in India but it has failed miserably due to a lack of proper strategy and planning. Unless and until the AIFF ensures live telecast of league matches with a proper marketing plan the league will continue to be a non-entity among the Indian masses.
Clubs in India are equally responsible for the current state of affairs in Indian football. Though many clubs in India have the professional tag their activities and functions are very much amateurish. Not a single club in India has got the basic infrastructure to be called a professional club. Forget basic infrastructures, many clubs playing in the National Football League do not have even single have a practice ground for proper training. Clubs only turns professional during the transfer seasons. In India transfers take place twice in a year but the majority of transfers take place in the beginning of new seasons i.e. May & June of each year. Clubs enter into contract with players for one season and most of the time contracts are made without proper paper work and at the end of the season most of the players run pillar to post for their contract money. Clubs never ever fulfill the contractual obligations to players as per the contract terms because there is no proper transfer system in Indian football and benefits the clubs, and players end on losing side. There is no system where clubs can charge other clubs in transfer deals. After the end of the season players become free agents and are free to join any other club and contract negotiations take place between the player and clubs concerned. There is no players' agent as such in Indian football with only one exception i.e. Baichung Bhutia, who had a stint at FC Bury of England's second division for three seasons and returned to Indian football in 2002.
Few clubs playing in the National Football League are sponsored by Multi-national companies but clubs also fail miserably in fulfilling the mileage aspect of the concerned sponsors. As at the AIFF, clubs too lack the services of professionally competent people and thus marketing and management is the real problem at the Indian clubs. The revenue which the clubs generate is not from marketing or from a business strategy it is mostly from donations, membership fees of and very little from sponsors. Few also generate gate money but that is too marginal. That shows how professionally clubs are functioning in India.
Again India has failed to qualify for the Olympics and the Asia Cup. In the very first round India was defeated by the hands of North Korea for the Asia Cup and Turkmenistan prevented India from moving to the second round of qualifying matches for the Olympics. India's poor international performance has continued over last three decades with the only exception being winning the LG Cup at Vietnam in August 2002. The problem with Indian football is that it does not have good pool of players who come from a system. Indian teams depend on a handful of players and when those players are out of the team then they struggles badly. How is it a wonder that a coach can't make an internationally competitive team when he is not provided with quality players. This problem is due to a lack of grass-roots coaching and youth development programmes and schemes from AIFF. When we look at the scoring sheets of the National Football League matches we find that the top scorers are foreigners and this is prevalent since the last three years and that only reflects how Indian players are progressing in this professional world of football. Foreign players playing in India are not of international standard by any means and in this context everyone is convinced that Indian players are far behind the best in business in international football. Then how can full professionalism enter into the system of Indian football without quality players? In professional football star players are required and without star players masses will never ever follow the game and that is the current situation in Indian football. Neither the AIFF nor the clubs are taking any keen interest in grooming star players of international quality and that's how Indian football is failing to overcome its difficulties and continues to be in the state of non-entity.
Deliberate and sincere efforts are made by many private organisations to groom talented football players for the future but they mostly fail due to a lack of scientific coaching and training, and other basic infrastructure and technology. Lack of a coach's education programme is another problem area in Indian football, most of the coaches lack basic knowledge and competence to train youngsters and teams in professional and scientific lines. Without quality coaches quality players cannot be developed or produced and thus talents are deprived from reaching their true potential.
The Asian Football Confederation has given five more years to the Indian football administration to improve the overall aspect of the game so that game catches the imagination of the masses. Asian Football Confederation has conveyed this message in the recently concluded football seminar, VISION INDIA held in India. Where detail discussions took place in almost all aspects of the game with more focus on marketing and management of the game. A blue print for Indian football development was framed and discussed and the gathering was optimistic about the outcome. The Asian Football Confederation has also stressed training professionally competent people to run Indian football and selected young individuals will be trained by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) itself. Thus Indian football will enter into professional phase that what was deliberated in the seminar.
It was a good beginning as far as Indian football is concerned but how the deliberated blue print will be implemented will only be judged by its action in coming days and months. If Indian football comes out with the solutions to all problems mentioned above then the days are not far when Indian football will be attractive to the masses. Modern football cannot be separated from professionalism and it is the professionalism that takes the game into new heights and thus India has to do what the world has been doing since there is no alternative to professionalism.