by Harmit Singh Kamboe

March Madness - Indian Ishtyle
In North America, the month of March for sports fans is the month of March Madness. The name comes from the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Men's Basketball Championship that is played on a knockout basis in March.
This year, Indian football has had its own version of March madness. One step forward and ten steps backwards is par for the course of Indian football.
First the good news: The AIFF must be congratulated for being bold and innovative on two counts:

1. Staging the NFL so that there was a break for some international games
Perhaps no where in the world, does the entire league come to a halt so that the national team can get ready for some crucial football games. But then no other nation has to deal with the ground realities the way India does. The AIFF by staging the NFL in phases did a smart and practical thing. And they need to be congratulated for that.

2. Agreeing to Mahindra United's request for a change of venue for their JCT match
And just when one thought the AIFF was done with their out of the box thinking, football fans were in for another surprise. The AIFF listened and saw merit in getting Mahindra United to play JCT, Phagwara in Goa rather than Mumbai, so that the Mahindra players would not be travel weary from an important AFC Cup game. Well done AIFF!

And then came the shocker:
Reports are now coming in on how the AIFF, in a bid to pacify the NFL clubs, is prepared to limit the number of players it will select from each club team for the Olympic qualifiers to three. This makes a mockery of the very concept of Team India.
Is Team India supposed to be the best players in the land or is football now going to apply a Mandal type of criteria to the selection of the team. Every now and then we are reminded how the football administration in India is not totally out of the dark ages yet.
AIFF officials understand very well that India will never move up the FIFA rankings unless it does remarkably better against international teams. Yet, they themselves indulge in actions that go against what they know is right.
If a billion people cannot organize or run things so that its best 11 can take the field for the tricolour, then something is wrong not just in how the sport is run, but in our hearts and minds as citizens of the land.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you March Madness, Indian Ishtyle.