Looking for a new life

Syed Abdul Rahim was fuming. No amount of persuasion by other All India Football Federation officials could calm him down. "Dutta Ray may be AIFF secretary but he has no right to take such a stand," Rahim said. "Hyderabad are Santosh Trophy champions and their players should get priority in the national team. As national coach, I will strictly follow this line," he declared firmly.
It was a month before the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the national camp was on in Kolkata. Dutta Ray had said there should be more footballers from Bengal in the team as they were more skillful. Rahim's reasoning was that Hyderabad players had proved their mettle in the Santosh Trophy. Finally, Dutta Ray had to bow to Rahim's wishes. India finished a historic fourth in the Olympics.
The above incident only goes to show how important the Santosh Trophy was then in Indian football. Any player nursing an ambition to climb the ladder of footballing excellence had no option but to prove his worth in the National championships. The Santosh Trophy was the gateway to success.
Things have changed. Today, despite the tall claims by those who run the game, the Trophy has been reduced to a mediocre inter-state tournament, with little impact on the trend of the game. While stronger football playing states hardly take it seriously and top players regularly skip the meet, the sponsors and electronic media too treat the championships as a secondary one.
The federation has tried to make the tournament more spectator-friendly and relevant. It first converted it into an age-group tournament only to discard the idea after a couple of years. Then came the concept of a two-tier Santosh Trophy with zonal meets at different centres. This too was scrapped after one year as it became difficult for state associations to raise teams twice in a packed season. And, as the National Football League gained momentum, the ratings of Santosh Trophy plummeted further.
With the culture of club football gaining in India, there is an increasing demand to either do away with the Santosh Trophy or reduce it to a tournament for smaller football-playing states. The idea, however, was met with resistance from many coaches and former players, who felt the Santosh Trophy still remains the best platform to find new talents.
"I have been watching the tournament for many years now", said Krishnaji Rao, former national coach and footballer. "This is the only time when I get to see players from obscure places who play at the national level only once a year during the national championship. Even if I manage to spot two or three players from these places, I take it as a bonus," Rao said. "The bigger tournaments never even invite clubs from these states. Then where will these players will go?" he asked.
Maharashtra coach Bimal Ghosh makes a very strong pitch for the Santosh Trophy. "I can well understand the passion involved in club football as I too coach a club side, but the Santosh Trophy is totally different," he felt. "In the NFL, the clubs take the easier route of recruiting foreigners for quick success. At a time when Indian football is struggling to get a good striker, the main goalscorers in almost all the clubs are foreigners. To find new talents, we have to depend on the Santosh Trophy."
His own experience in the Santosh Trophy, says Ghosh, has been extremely positive. "Every time I have watched the tournament, I have managed to spot a few good players from smaller states."
But then, the question remains: Can the glory days of the Santosh Trophy ever come back? The leading players are reluctant to take it seriously, the spectators have deserted the tournament, the sponsors have refused to back it beyond a certain limit. Moreover, the sentiment and excitement that was once involved with an inter-state tournament has faded in the fast changing scenario of Indian society.
To say that the inter-state championships throws up unknown footballers is good, but Indian football cannot turn it back to the fact that it is club football which develops and spreads the game all over the world. Here too, the states should be encouraged to improve and broad base club football, which will automatically strengthen the talent hunt.
There are several states which still have no proper footballing infrastructure or local football base. Steps should be taken to improve on that front. Merely inviting a state once a year to take part in the cluster matches of the National championships won't, in any way, help arrest the plummeting ranking of Indian football in the world arena.