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Kerala poised on the verge of football revolution

K Bhaskaran

No state association in Indian football has, or can undertake, the conduct of a major event, be it for the clubs or for state teams or for national teams, with the durable confidence of ending up with a profit as can the Kerala Football Association.

From Kannur in the north through Kozhikode, Palakkad, Thrissur, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam in the south, each of these venues have the capability of satisfying the demands of the All-India Football Federation, the teams and the fans. This has been so since parts of the old Madras Presidency were carved out and merged with the princely states of Travancore and Cochin to form the present Kerala in the late fifties.

Paradoxically, however, this congenial climate for growth and sustenance has not produced teams that would be a force on the national scene, save for Kerala Police in the late eighties and the early nineties. Even more strangely, this void has persisted, though all districts of Kerala could count on the support of the fans to have a club strong and successful enough to establish a tradition like Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting of Calcutta, or even that of Bombay's Tata Sports Club, or Mafatlal Sports Club, both of whom have disbanded their football teams, and Mahindra and Mahindra Sports Club.

From the fifties, Kerala's leading clubs have been perched atop in cyclical periods before virtually disappearing from the national scene. In the fifties, it was State Transport, in the sixties Alind from Kundara, followed by Fertilisers and Chemicals Tranvancore of Alwaye, Premier Tyres of Kalamaserry and Central Excise and Customs of Cochin in the seventies, and then Titanium Products of Trivandum and Kerala Police in the eighties and the present decade.

All the above-mentioned teams belonged to government departments or industrial establishments, who relied heavily on the players groomed by private clubs like Brothers Club, Spirited Youths and Lucky Star of Kannur, Young Challengers of Kozhikode, Cochin Malleables and Pettah Youngsters of Trivandrum and a few others. The clubs did not have the backing, strength and passionate involvement of members that the Bit Three of Calcutta have. As a result, they have not been able to achieve in competition with outstation clubs results that would inspire pumping of funds and gaining of a substantial following. These two factors have caused their players to seek greener pastures, which translates into jobs and money.

The government departments and industrial houses which have recruited players to form teams have been weighed down by handicaps. For one thing they cannot recruit too many and too often as replacements for players who are past their best, lose form, are out of action temporarily or permanently through injury. For another, it was only in the last decade or two that they have been more organised in the preparation of their teams, but they still will find it difficult to be as professional as the Calcutta and Goa clubs who can more easily add to or delete from their roster of players.

The scenario could change in the near future. The formation of FC Kochin prompts this belief. The initial funds have been made available by a few Keralites who are doing well in their businesses in the United Kingdom, Africa, the United States and the Gulf countries. The enticing of the leading Indian players, like I M Vijayan, Jo Paul Ancheri and Carlton Chapman from Jagatjit Cotton and Textiles Mills, goalkeeper Sumit Mukherjee from East Bengal, besides foreign players and a few others from Kerala itself, has provided a solid base. Even before participation in any event, the team has aroused a following not only in Kerala but also in the rest of the country.

It appears that the promoters of the clubs are not entirely dependent on the support of the NRIs. For they also have succeeded in securing sponsorship from the United Breweries, who have got the AIFF to change the name of the Federation Cup to the Kalyani Black Label Cup. Interestingly, FC Kochin will sport the logo of Kalyani Black Label. From there it is a simple matter of their being one of the two entrants in the south zone qualifying series to pick two of the eight teams to join the eight quarter-finalists of last year to contest this year's series to be held from May 7 to July 15.

The south zone qualifying competition will include two teams each from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry, while the west zone will comprise teams from Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan, the east zone teams from Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and maybe Railways, the north-east zone teams from Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim and Andaman and Nicobar islands, the north zone teams from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and maybe the Services. Two teams each will qualify from the south, east and west, and one each from the north-east and north.

This will be the litmus test for FC Kochin. If they prove to be one of the qualifiers and also justify the optimism reposed in them by the Kerala FA's including them in the Kaumidi Trophy for the leading teams of Kerala, then their claims to a place in the next edition of the National League will be hard to dispute. And for the sake of the game in Kerala, it is hoped that the trail-blazers are successful.

For the good showing of FC Kochi could show the way for others in the other districts of Kerala and in many parts of the rest of the country. It would free the teams and the game, in a larger sense, from dependence on government and industrial houses for survival. More importantly it will sow the seeds of the club structure and culture, which will instil pride of the community, vital ingredients in the robust growth and health of famous clubs all over the world. Once this club structure and culture takes firm root, and makes for constant replenishment of player resources and raises the level of play, it will lend meaning to the efforts to make our football professional and stand up to the best in Asia and in a few years the best of the world.