IndianFootball.Com Interview: Sqn. Ldr. SUBODH BHATNAGAR

Sqn. Ldr. Subodh Bhatnagar is Honorary Secretary General of the Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society who organize the Subroto Cup for school children since 1960. He took over as the Organizing Secretary of the Subroto Cup in the year 2000 and raised the standard of the tournament to new heights. He himself was a first class cricketer, representing the Services Ranji team for nearly a decade. He shared his experiences in length with indianfootball.com on various issues related to Subroto Cup and Indian football.
Thanks to Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran for carrying out the interview!

You played first class cricket for nearly a decade and at present playing a key innings in organizing one of the most prestigious football tournaments of the country. How you rate your innings in the organization of the Subroto Cup so far?

Playing cricket was best part of my life but organization of an event like Subroto Cup requires different approach and is totally different ball game. I have been entrusted the responsibility of the organization of Subroto Cup and I am trying to do as professionally as possible. As far as organization of Subroto Cup is concerned I am very much satisfied. We are able to manage the show in a very professional way and we hardly give scope to anyone for the complaint in any department of the organization. There is lot of scope for further improvement and in the coming years we will further improve the organizational part. Number of participating teams is increasing every year in both age groups and that only indicates that Subroto Cup is gaining it status.

What you think you are doing to make Subroto Cup more popular?

See in last few years we have increased the winner's prize money from 15,000 to 50,000 Rupees in the junior section and we have added individual prizes for both players and coaches. The quality of individual prizes and cash awards has also gone up and in the years to come it will further improve. The total prize money what we offer at this level is the best in any sport in the country. We have also increased the number of scholarships from 8 to 46 in the year 2002. We pay annual scholarship of Rs. 2,500 to each player - 30 in junior section and 16 in sub-junior section. All the improvement in the prize money and other areas is to promote football at the grass root and increase the popularity of Subroto Cup.
From this year we have plan to send Subroto XI in both age categories i.e. under-17 & under-14 to Australia for Kanga Cup for further exposure after proper training camp in the month of July 2004. This move will make Subroto Cup more attractive among children and football lovers of India.

Do you think that the overage players are still a problem in the Subroto Cup?

I will not say that overage problem has been solved completely. Our medical committee in last four years was very successful in catching many overage players and now most of the teams come with proper age group players. Catching high number of overage players has been one of the major success points of Subroto Cup in last four years. Here is the interesting statistics with respect to last four years over age players.

YEAR	OVERAGE (U-17)	OVERAGE (U-14)	TOTAL
2000	48	75	123
2001	61	72	133
2002	45	51	96
2003	31	45	76

In order to completely solve the problem of overage we require complete cooperation from state education departments which first conduct qualifying tournaments in their own state and I can assure that in the years to come we are going to overcome this problem completely.

Do you find that the quality of competition and talent has gone up in last four years?

Certainly, the quality of competition and talent has gone up drastically. But I have a feeling that talents spotted here are not reaching at right place. It is due to lack of interest among top clubs and football academies in the Subroto Cup. This is the only tournament where grass root is at display from entire nation, and top clubs and football academies must send their spotters to select the talented players regularly.

Do you think that All India Football Federation is serious with Subroto Cup?

Every year they send one selector for spotting talent but this year they showed good interest and the visit of national football team coach Stephen Constantine to the Subroto Cup is the result of that. This year the AIFF has asked for best 16 players in under-14 section from the organizing committee for their future programme. But I think AIFF should send more spotters and work with talented players for their development. So that talented players should not go waste.

What are your observations on Indian football in total?

Indian football has a tremendous potential. At this juncture there is no coordination exists between AIFF and other agencies and talents are going waste. Youth development should be priority. If AIFF can coordinate well with other organizations involved in promoting football, Indian football will certainly improve its standard. I don't see why India can't be an Asian force in football?

Do sponsors get attracted to the Subroto Cup?

Sponsors are very much attracted to the Subroto Cup and each passing year number of co-sponsors number has gone up. Subroto Mukerjee Sports Education Society is grateful and thankful to all sponsors for their generous contribution and help for the promotion of football in the country through the Subroto Cup.

What you see the future of Subroto Cup?

Subroto Cup is going to continuously serve Indian football one step better by each passing years. In future one will see better organization, improved prize money, better cash awards, more lucrative individual prizes, more foreign teams and quality competitions. We also like to improve our hospitality to visiting teams as per international standard. Further our plan is to attract more spectators to the stadium in future.

the interview was done by Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran (December 2003)

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