Richard Hood

Monday, 05. January 2009 - Harmit Singh Kamboe

Richard Hood is the young, modern, confident and qualified face of Indian football. Richard is not an active player, coach of an I-League team and neither is he a member of any one of football associations that exist because they have to and not because they have a mission or purpose.

Like members of India’s youth in many walks of life, Richard speaks from the heart and his passion, knowledge and expertise comes through. The frustrating part clearly is that Richard and his knowledge is not being put to use at a mass scale across our nation.

We hope that someday we shall awaken to our destiny as a strong and successful sporting nation. The road to our sporting destiny will surely go through many young people like Richard. Read on...

Harmit: Please tell us about yourself – where were you born, your childhood, your love for the game, the kind of professional training you received as far as football is concerned?

Richard: To begin with I am a football coach and match analyst based in Chennai, and have been around the city for about 8 years now. I was born in Bombay and brought up all over the country actually. Like most Indian kids there was a time when all I though about was cricket, but around the age of 13 I changed loyalties to the beautiful game- and it’s the best decision I’ve made in my life!

Football is way more than a passion! I consider myself lucky to be in the career that I am in, its pretty much football 24/7. And, I am out here to get myself to be involved at the highest level I can!

I started playing football once my family transferred to Chennai. From the school team at Abacus, I went on to get selected in the district team. After my 10th grade I joined Indian Bank as a trainee and played under the Late VP Sathyan and their current coach Roque D’Silva for 3 years.

During this time I was fortunate to have had the chance to be admitted in the Sports High School in Denmark for 2 years (which didn’t work out due to an Injury), but I have travelled to Australia, Czech Republic, Germany and Denmark to undergo training. And, this was not recreational but competitive training. Not exactly the football summer camps we hear about.

I trained with the Sparta Praha, Bohmians, Slavia, AGF Aarhus U-18 teams and I feel proud to have trained with some of the boys who now play in the top leagues in and around Europe and Australia.

Apart from this the coaching methodologies and staff were a revelation in terms of what I experienced in comparison to the Indian environment. Not to mention the facilities I was exposed to when I was overseas.

Harmit: Did you have enough support from your family in pursing your interest in football? Please describe your coaching expertise, qualifications and the reason why you transitioned to coaching at such a young age?

Richard: My family was more than supportive in my endeavours.

As far as my coaching expertise goes, I think I am best with the 14-19 age groups at the moment. I am currently focusing on gaining qualifications in the physical side of the game. Strength and Conditioning along with SAQ (Speed, Agility and Quickness), while I work full time as an analyst.

Along with the UEFA ‘B’ Licence I am currently undergoing with the Bolton Wanderers FC, after having completed by AFC C certificate in Singapore last year, to help me build and develop my competencies as a tactician and most importantly as a Coach. Eventually, I plan to move into sports management and psychology as well.

I started this young due to a knee injury that didn’t allow me to play for a year and a half. During this time I tried my hand at a call center, event management and even worked on the sets of a Hollywood production for 3 months as a grip. In addition to this, I also entertained thoughts of working on an oil rig in the North Sea and enrolling with the French Foreign Legion.

With time I began to itch to play again, and worked on my fitness relentlessly. But I knew I was not good enough to play at the top level, and another injury like that would be a set back. Thus, the best way I though to be involved in the game would be coaching. And I love every bit of the experience so far.

Harmit: Please tell us about Mahogany FC in Chennai? What is Mahogany working on and what does it hope to achieve?

Richard: Mahogany FC is the brain child of this fantastic individual, (not flattery to earn brownie points with my boss) Arindam Biswas who hails from Kolkata. With almost nothing he has started and developed Mahogany which is now at the Academy stage.

The ultimate dream is to get to the AFC Champions League in 15 years, and right now we have started with involving our players in the District and City League around Tamil Nadu. And with a whole new bunch of committed individuals and players coming in, we at Mahogany make sure there is progress everyday.

We make sure we give the boys our best as coaches, have a logged session structure and a database of all our players and sessions and plans. We train them with the best of tried and tested methods. We are working on developing talented players with our priority being focussed on the youngest lot. As this is the age group we hope to influence and develop into top class athletes as they complete their training with us.

We don’t exactly have the approval of the authorities in our favour at the moment- or maybe it is the bureaucratic formalities that make it seem that way. But we are doing our best in order to set up more centres, involve more boys and promote football in the city. More importantly promote Mahogany.

Things can only get better from this stage! And though I have been with them for just about a year now, and will have to move on if opportunity calls. I will for sure keep the website (IndianFootball.Com) updated on their progress.

Harmit: How do you see Chennai and Tamil Nadu shaping up in football in light of the Vision India project being implemented there?

Richard: The AFC and AIFF considering Tamil Nadu and Kerala as priority was great news. But apart from the ‘Football Run’ that was organised at it’s inception, the progress has been at snail pace. I have even contributed an article titled ‘Simply South’ to the website Indianfootball.com expressing my views about the same.

I have interacted with the Associations, and the talks seem to head in the right direction and there are individuals there who are keen to set things right.

But in my opinion the whole objective of these ‘visions’ is misplaced as far as I can see. By developing a state league and tournaments or whatever that is prescribed in the Vision Modules is not really contributing to the improvement of football. The tournaments will once again be a stage to exhibit the talent coming in from the same old development system. i.e. players that are technically deprived, lack fitness and the like. As is the case with most coaches, training/practise is a quick warm up followed by a few passing drills and a game to kill time with.

Basically the dependence on the schools for producing talent or as our grassroots should be looked into, and a certain benchmark in terms of quality should be established. That is, set benchmarks for school teams if we actually are looking at them to give us our players.

Focus more on the school level and college level football. The more priority and seriousness we give them, the better and hungrier the players will get in order to be the best. Coaches will then have to train the right way, use the right methods and approach in order to gain the results. Of course the benchmark for quality will need to evolve to get better with every season that passes.

Harmit: You have taken many overseas courses in football. What are some of the most fundamental things that Indian clubs and teams are missing out on?

Richard: Fundamentally the Indian clubs and teams are missing out is on having a established youth system in place. We keep talking about the European standards etc, and though its an old argument but realistically we should look at countries like Brazil and Argentina who in population, area and economically are in the same situation as India.

And we cannot blame cricket, because unlike India, they (Argentina and Brazil) are good in other team sports as well. Rather than just cricket, we need to look at ourselves as more than a one trick pony in sports among the highly populated nations. Let me not get started on China and sports.

If you look at some of the teams that excelled at the recent AFC U-16 tournament, where our boys were said to be all raring to go and excel. I do not dispute that they have prepared hard. (Despite high hopes, once again an Indian team failed to deliver and could not move beyond the group stage).

But the fact remains that the other teams had licensed coaches with proven ability to train them from the time they were maybe 7-8. South Korean club youth systems starts at that age. And, the boys are trained with age specific methods in the right environments.

They come with years of high quality coaching and training behind them and with no shortage of competition within their age group all through the year.

Now lets talk about our boys. The selection is almost always based on camps that start with a regional approach, where they are tested in a two week tournament at best. They start with a maybe 500 strong national camp that is later condensed to the final 25 chosen to represent the country. And, it is only here after the selection that the boys are exposed to the coaching methods of Colin Toal and his team. This happens at the age of 13-15. That is about atl east 4 years behind in terms of gaining proper education in football.

Though it is a great thing this U16 team were together for a year and travelled together. But where do they go from here. They will go back to their respective teams that use primitive methods and all the work done will slowly fade away. And if they do continue to train together, it’s appalling that only 25 are being priority in a country of so many.

So if we are talking of fundamentals, we have to look at the very foundation of where our players are being bred, and also how and what they are taught.

Harmit: What in your opinion sets a great coach apart from an ordinary coach?

Richard: Results, of course are what gives a coach his claim to fame. Otherwise it would be the players that would get the sack if the team didn’t do well.

I think greatness in coaching differs at what level you are coaching. In the grassroots of below 10 a great coach is probably someone who ignites the players interest and keeps it alive by making it more fun and interesting. Higher the age group gets the more the importance and priority is given to results.

It starts with winning is not everything at the learning stage and going down to winning is the only thing at the professional level.

This might sound a cliché, but I reckon a great coach is the person who exhibits his capabilities in motivating, leading, guiding the players to the best they can be at each level of the game. Inspiring excellence!

Harmit: Could you please explain in layman terms what are some of the key products and services that Kadamba/ProZone offers? Do any Indian football clubs use such services?

Richard: Kadamba Technologies is what we may call a BPO for ProZone in the UK. ProZone has devised various softwares such as PZ3, MatchViewer, Trend and Playback.

These are essentially meant for the coaching staff to aid them in analysing the matches. It is probably the most comprehensive software around in terms of letting the coach know what exactly the players did out there in terms of passes, distance covered, how fast, etc. Basically all of the technical info backed with videos that can be used for team, player, squad feedback and analysis.

Kadamba very recently has ventured into the Indian market, though as of now there are no takers. We hope that in the near future that Indian clubs and teams use this. As from a personal point of view, I reckon it is among the best tools one can have in the team in terms of improving performances.

Harmit: In your exposure to the India U19 teams – are there any talents that you think we will hear of very soon? In general, what is your take on the talent pool at the Indian U19 level?

Richard: As far as technical ability goes the TFA (Tata Footall Academy) boys stood out from the rest in the camp. And the number of players from the North East was surprising.

Some of the boys like goalkeeper Kattiamani, Mohanraj, and Nirmal Chetri have already attracted plenty of attention and have featured in the I League in the past.

Other names like Dada Nabil the striker, Sabith, the graduates from TFA like Bineesh, Kisku to name a few I am sure will make a name for themselves.

The talent pool is fantastic in terms that most of these boys are prepared for the professional life as footballers. But, as we saw they are lacking on the continental stage. I think the ones that eventually go onto to become full internationals will make significant contribution to the national side. But we have to look to our younger crop of players to bring us glory that’s beyond mediocrity on the international front.

Harmit: In your opinion, why is football managed so poorly especially on the business side of things in India? On the one hand we have IPL and on the other hand despite having fans, teams with history, rivalry, why isn’t India a more competitive football nation?

Richard: Well, this is only an opinion. I don’t think the talks of getting people who have been involved in the game should be out there, rather than politicians will get us too far. The business end of things should be left to individuals who are trained and competent in this field.

The IPL had it easy in terms of having the infrastructure in place to build up on in terms of spectators, stadiums, players of high quality (essential for appeal), and a team of professional businessmen headed by Lalit Modi calling the shots and treating the IPL like a business venture and not an event.

I think Indian Football has a lot more to offer in terms of being competitive, but instead of relying on that thought and hoping for a better tomorrow, we need to act.

We are a nation that applauds mediocrity in sports. The most popular sport we support is cricket where only 6 other nations offer some competition.

We have rivalries that are older than the Ashes and Border-Gavaskar in football. We have deep rooted Portuguese influence in one part of the country where the game is all that the state talks about. We have a league that is among the oldest leagues running (in Madras). We have, Kerala, a state that worships the game and Punjab that breeds athletes. For Kolkata and north eastern states football is life. So we cannot continue to blame genetics, funds, the past, present and future about it.

To put this in perspective, the number of people actively involved in football in India is more than the population of countries like the Netherlands, Denmark or the Czech Republic.

We probably need atleast 6 to 7 TFA’s in each major footballing city of the country. Not necessarily residential, but a place where kids undergo quality training with good facilities 3-4 times a week. This will go a very long way. There is no shortage of grounds if only the authorities are not as uptight in letting them being utilized for football training.

To compare - a decent cricket kit of one player could pay for atleast 18 footballs to train with!

Harmit: Were of you aware of IndianFootball.Com, prior to us approaching you for this interview?

Richard: I have been in touch with Arunava since 2005 when I met him in Germany. Have been corresponding with him about my progress within the game ever since, and received good advice and encouragement all through the way.

I check the website almost every other day, as it gives us a whole lot of football news from the country as compared to the cricket centric media.

Its a fantastic initiative which I am sure it will go on and on. Cheers to the team!!!