Harjinder Singh is currently the chief coach of the Chandigarh Football Academy (CFA). He has been closely associated with CFA since its inception. Harjinder needs no introduction for Indian Football lovers. He was a left footed ball player with sublime skills who was equally good in creating and scoring goals. Harjinder represented the national side with aplomb for nearly a decade before a niggling groin injury cut short his career at a relatively young age of 28 years. Harjinder first excelled in the Asian Youth Soccer championships at Bangkok where India emerged as the champions. That was the last time India was crowned as champions of Asia at either junior or senior levels. He was one of the two Indian players selected for the Asian All Stars team after that championship. Harjinder was a key member of the senior Indian soccer team from 1974 to 1983 and represented India in numerous international soccer tournaments during that period including the 1978 and 1982 Asian Games. In the 1981 Merdeka Cup, he was adjudged the best medio of the tournament. Harjinder considers that as the high point of his career for India. His brace against hosts Malaysia enabled India to reach the semi-final stage of the most prestigious tournament of Asia in those times. P.K. Banerjee, the famous Indian coach regards Harjinder Singh as the best-left footed Indian player, he has ever seen. At Club level, Harjinder Singh started his career with the erstwhile Leaders Club in Jalandhar, which was a formidable club in the early seventies. He shifted to JCT Mills and played there for a few seasons. He then came over to Calcutta and represented East Bengal club for two seasons from 1979 to 1981. After enthralling the red and gold fans, Harjinder returned back to his old club JCT and played there for a couple of seasons before his career was cut short by a niggling groin injury for which he had to undergo many surgeries, some even during his playing career.
The young kids of CFA displayed a very fluid, skillful and attractive style of soccer during their Calcutta tour, which one normally does not associate with teams from Northern India, where the emphasis has always been the physical-hit and run style of play. Harjinder is responsible for inculcating this style of play amongst the young CFA lads. At the end of CFA's 10 days' tour in Bengal, Harjinder had reasons to be happy and a contended man. CFA played 4 matches against some of the best teams in Bengal in the same age category, winning three of their matches and drawing the other match.
Harjinder spoke to IndianFootball.com in details regarding CFA and present, past and future of Indian Football during his visit to Calcutta.
When and how did you associate yourself with the CFA?
I have been very closely associated with this project since the idea of having a Football academy at Chandigarh was being conceived. I am employed with the Department of Sports, Chandigarh Administration, UT which looks after the operations of CFA. I was responsible for scouting talent in the age category of 9-11 years old kids for this first batch of students from different parts of Northern India.
CFA will be completing three years in a month's time. How has the academy progressed in these three years?
When the first batch was recruited, most of the boys were under 10 years old. Nearly all of them come from rural areas of north. Some are from very poor background. Some were really frail. Our scientific nutrition and physical fitness regimen has taken care of these shortcomings and after nearly three years, all the boys are in superb physical condition.
They have grown in stature as footballers and I am happy with their style of play. They have succeeded against the very best in the country in their age group. But since the guys are so young (all being under 14 years), one cannot expect a certain level of maturity which comes only with age naturally. These mental aspects can't be taught. For example it is won't be very surprising as a coach, during a match if I inter change the flanks of two wingers, the positional play of the entire team will suffer and the rhythm of the team will be lost. This maturity will automatically come within next two years. Just see how CFA will shape up after two years, when all the players in this batch are about 15 years. The boys will definitely be amongst the best in India in their age group.
Everyone here in Calcutta has appreciated CFA's attractive style of play with very good technique. What are the reasons behind it?
I was a ball player and I will always ensure that my students play attractively. At CFA, we have in place a scientific regimen for physical development and fitness of the lads. The combination of skill, technique and fitness will make these boys very good players in the years to come. Although Football is a team game where all eleven players have to contribute, I have always believed that individual brilliance makes a lot of difference in Football. All successful teams in the world have some exceptional ball players.
What is your opinion about Indian Football at present?
With the advent of NFL, now players are well paid and looked after well. That's the only plus. But the standard of Indian Football has declined a lot and it is sad that now we have to struggle against teams from the subcontinent whom we used to wallop. During our times only South Korea, China, Iran, Iraq and a few other countries were better than us in Asia. Japan and India were at same level. Even these nations used to be wary of us as we used to often upset their applecart. Countries like UAE, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia used to look upon us as a formidable soccer-playing nation and we used to beat them with ease. But now all these nations have moved ahead of us. We were amongst the top 10 nations in Asia and were invited to participate in all the leading soccer tournaments in the continent. Presently that is not the case with the Indian Football team.
The passion for the game has decreased all over the country. Now Football is keenly followed in Bengal and Goa only. During our times, we used to play in jam-packed stadiums in Sait Nagjee Memorial Trophy and other all India invitational tournaments in Kerala, Stafford Cup in Bangalore. Capacity crowds used to fill in the stands an hour before kick off at the Cooperage during Rovers Cup matches in Mumbai and at Ambedkar stadium in Delhi during Durand Cup and DCM Trophy matches. In Kerala several all India tournaments were organised. I remember the immense craze of Football in that state. Players like me, Manjit, Gurdev, Inder Singh and many others used to be hired to play in remote villages in Kerala for their local clubs, some 150-200 kms away from the venue where our club used to play the tournaments. We used to receive about Rs.2000/= each per match for these guest appearances for these local small clubs in the village tournaments. That was big money during those days. Even in Calcutta those long serpentine queues for tickets preceding each local league game featuring the 'big three' have vanished. Santosh Trophy was very popular and used to attract full houses everywhere in the country it was staged including Punjab. But now I see around 500 people watching NFL matches featuring JCT Mills in Ludhiana. NFL has not improved the soccer standards in India in the last 7 or 8 years. On the contrary our FIFA ranking has gone down during this period. The last decade has produced only two classy skillful attackers in IM Vijayan and Bhaichung Bhutia. They are the only crowd pullers in Indian football presently.
What are the reasons behind this decline and your suggestions for improvement?
There is no long-term vision for developing the game of Football in India. Lot of money is being spent on NFL and by the leading Football clubs in the country. Even if a fraction of this money is directed towards development of the game at grassroots level for nurturing young talent, India can be a soccer force to reckon with, in the next ten years. But sadly nothing has been done so far in this direction.
Only by focussing towards development of the game at the grassroots level in the country, our standards will improve. There should be around 30 to 40 academies like CFA all over the country. As in CFA, these young talents should be groomed from the tender age of 9-10 years in a systematic and scientific manner looking into their overall growth as human beings and Footballers. At present only players in our country who have established themselves, are receiving such facilities. Coaching is another aspect where Indian Football needs immediate attention. Most of the coaches in the country are not acquainted with modern Football. Only the national team and a few top clubs have the service of good coaches. But we need to have such good coaches for the young kids in the age group of 9-14 years. Some of the basic techniques in the game are developed at this age group which cannot be changed at an older age. We need to have a pool of coaches who are trained abroad, well versed and updated with the best coaching systems available in world in modern Football. These coaches should be employed from the grassroots level only for ensuring proper blooming of talent.
How do you reflect at your playing career? Any regrets and the high points.
I am satisfied with my career as a player. Only regret is that it was cut short at a relatively young age of 28 years when I was at my prime due to niggling injury problems for which I had to undergo many surgeries. Otherwise I would have represented India in 3 consecutive Asian Games. But the satisfaction stems from the fact that football lovers appreciated my style of play. I am surprised that people in Calcutta still remember some of my pyrotechnics with the ball and goals when I represented Punjab in the 1977 Nationals in Calcutta and later when I played for East Bengal for a couple of seasons. Certainly my performance in Merdeka Cup in 1981 was the high point of my career when I was adjudged as the best medio of the tournament and India reached the semis final stage after a long time, in spite of being placed in a very tough group. PK Banerjee, coach of the Indian team rated my two goals against host Malaysia amongst the best goals he has ever seen at any level. Also, the triumph with the Indian youth team at the 1974 Asian Youth Championships was noteworthy and I was one of the two Indian players selected in Asian All Star team after the tournament. I represented the country regularly for 8 years including two Asian Games and at club level I successfully represented Leaders Club, JCT Mills and East Bengal.
Who are your contemporary footballers whom you admire?
Among my contemporary footballers, I will rate Surajit Sengupta as the most skillful player I played with or against. His name used to spell danger for the opponents. He used to play in the right wing and I was a left winger. I really enjoyed combining with him when we played together for India and East Bengal. Gautam Sarkar, Prasun Banerjee, Inder Singh, Manjit Singh were all great players. Manoranjan Bhattacharya was an excellent defender and I will rate Bhaskar Ganguly as the best goalie India has produced for quite some time now. Most importantly all these players excelled for India at international level, which is my yardstick to judge a good Indian player.
Who was your best coach under whom you played?
Certainly P.K. Banerjee. He was the only coach during our times who could communicate equally well with players of all states and as such managed to get the best out of the players. That is also reflected in India's good performances whenever he was the coach of the Indian team.
What are your future plans and any chances of your coming to club coaching?
I am very happy working with the CFA. My present responsibility is to see these young kids grow and mature into very good footballers. Since we are in working with a long-term vision, I am sure most of them will be representing India and play professional Football with the top clubs in India and abroad from the year 2009 and onwards. No, at the moment I have no plans of coming to club coaching. I am very satisfied with CFA in my hometown Chandigarh.
[ indianfootball.com interviews ]
© indianfootball.com 2003-04
Reproduction in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.