The All India Football Federation Has Done Precious Little For The Beautiful Game, Potentially The Country's No. 1 Sport

Why is football languishing as a mass sport in India? The answer has to lie in the insincerity of people who have been governing the game in this country over the years. There has hardly been an effort to put the game before their petty interests.
Cricket has climbed into India's collective consciousness for such an overpowering presence that every other sport in the country is not just living under its long shadow but, in clear evidence of exasperation, is now even blaming it for their own ills. Crowd and media support, sponsors backing, infrastructure, international presence... all that a sport strives for, belongs to cricket in this country, and to cricket alone.
It is, thus, with the overwhelming risk of ridicule that one proffers that football is potentially India's No. 1 sport. But, then, looking beyond the fanatical fan-following that cricket enjoys in these parts and delving deeper, it will perhaps also be evident why football's universal appeal stems from its simplicity. It may be an uncomplicated game, but the seemingly simple business of putting a bouncing, air-filled sphere into the opponent's goal is so easily transformed into a challenging task in the maze of technical and tactical traps. It is this aspect that makes football a fascinating sport, both for the players as well as the spectators. The game lends itself nicely to its different levels, the layers emerging out of the various degrees of proficiency that players and teams acquire over time.
From its unbridled, chaotic stage to the cashrich, sophisticated upper echelon, football offers the sort of enjoyment that few sport can match.
In a developing country like India, where sports infrastructure is poor and a sporting culture all but non-existent, football fits in easily because of its adaptability.
It's an easy-to-start game, where all you need is a small clearing to get things going. Nine-a-side, seven-a-side, five-a-side... the provisions are many and the costs negligible when compared to a game like cricket. Yes, kabaddi, kho-kho and a few other games too would qualify under these criteria but, then, they can never be the world game that football is. They can never match its appeal.
Then, why is football languishing as a mass sport in India? The answer has to lie in the insincerity of people who have been governing the game in this country over the years. There has hardly been an effort to put the game before their petty interests. It has meant knee-jerk reactions and playing to the galleries to ensure they hang on to their chairs, when what was needed was vision - a long-term goal and a commitment to that path.
There is never a bigger opportunity to have a game take wings than when a national team does well. The nations stature grows and the invitations to big tournaments flow in; youngsters are keen to emulate the new heroes. India have had several such opportunities. When the country won Asian Games gold medals, in 1951 and then in 1962, or when it finished fourth at the Melbourne Olympics or regularly made it to the business end of top Asian tournaments, every kid in this country would have dreamed of becoming a footballer. As every kid wanted to be a Kapil Dev or a Mohinder Amarnath after the 1983 World Cup win.
Cricket caught the bus, building a brand and marketing well, but all the All India Football Federation had done was rest on the laurels instead of putting the groundswell of support into something more substantial through planned effort. Even now, all that the AIFF president Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi does is make promises, and promises that are made without the intention of keeping them are no better than blatant lies.
The path to the top is more arduous now, what with things having to start from a scratch as it were, but if the thousands of bleary-eyed fans who watch football on their television deep into the night is an indication, there is still a thirst for the beautiful game.
Can our football bosses thirst a little as well? "