GETTING KID'S INTERESTED

I was at a school recently, and when I asked the children there what their favourite Soccer club would be, pat came the reply in chorus. "Manchester United!"
"Arsenal", said a lone student from a corner. Somehow I felt he was the only one in that room who could name five players from the team he supports. The fool that I am, I didn't stop there. "How many of you know Mohun Bagan? Mahindra United?"
The room was as silent as it could ever get. A lady teacher tried to break the Silence, in an effort to help me, "Come on, children. You can answer. What is that Car parked outside?"
"Mahindra Logan", said a totally enthused kid. 'Wow', I thought, 'what a way to reach kids'... The teacher was happy with the kid who answered. "Now, who makes that car...?" No Reply. The teacher thought it best to share her knowledge. "Mahindra United..." she told the kids.
Period.

If you are a football fan, you would come across this question often. "Which clubs do you Support?"
Well, my answer: Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona, AC Milan, East Bengal.
And trust me, a lot of people I've said this to, have considered it a joke.
I am sure this is not (pray not be) the case in Bengal and the North East, Goa or Kerala... Yeah, we can add some parts of Mumbai to that. But anywhere else in India, for instance, Tamil Nadu, where I hail from, Indigenous football is completely unheard of.

Adding to all factors debated upon by many in this site and beyond, One major hurdle for Indian Football is the fact that the awareness is uneven. People in Andhra Pradesh won't know a thing about Viva Kerala or Salgaocar SC. For the national team to make it big, the states must not be very far behind.
We must start creating opportunities at the Grassroots level, taking football to the masses and make them see there's a better future in taking up football as a career than in any other sport. We need to do that in the 20 odd states where football isn't even in the picture. Training camps and talent hunts must sprout all over India. We must look at bridging the gap between the elite footballing states and the rest of India, rather than trying to squeeze out the Northeast and the Western Ghats.
Once we get all the states into consideration, things will not be so disfigured as they are today. Only then can we talk about any national team or its performance.