In our series of bringing to you, our readers, the latest on various youth football projects across India, we take you back to our national capital, New Delhi. While many people think of New Delhi where empty promises and false statements are made everyday by politicians, we bring you an honest but controversial perspective on the state of Indian football from Tushar Dev of Simla Youngs. The Simla Youngs Football Academy is a novel concept in that a club that is not in the NFL or in its 2.Division has taken upon themselves the task of spotting talented youngsters and training them on a regular basis into proficient footballers. The interview highlights some innovative recommendations required to resuscitate Indian football. While the big clubs in Indian football engage in a jostling match with the AIFF that is trying to push through various proposals for the Pro League, a small but historic club in Delhi is already leaps and bounds ahead of many NFL clubs. Read On.
Tushar your involvement in the game started with youth football. You had started about five years with a project to qualify India for the 2010 World Cup project? What happened to that goal?
In the year 2000 we formed a non-profit organisation called WEIN2010WC, to achieve this objective. This was a group of ex-sportsmen like Novy Kapadia, Sriram Singh and Devashish Mahanti which formed the core team.
As a first step we made a website (www.kickoff2010.org) to talk about the problems of Indian Football and possible solutions. Second we started an Inter School League of boys of age below 10 years in 2001. This idea came to me after discussing with Mr Bill Adams, ex-Sriram School and ex-IYSA.
He directed me to www.minisoccer.com. There were 90 matches played amongst 10 top schools of Delhi. To propagate this league, we got a pair of goal posts made costing Rs 7,500 each and gave to each of the participating schools. Sriram Sahab, the ace middle distance runner was instrumental in convincing the schools to participate. We hoped to raise funds to the tune of Rs 1 Crore, by involving the crème-de-la-crème of Delhi's society. We wanted to take about 30 kids of 10 years from the Northern India and train them for 10 years or so.
However, we were barely able to collect Rs 5 lakhs. In 2003 we realised that the world over football is run by a profit motive, so we called our club Simla Youngs and integrated all the activities.
How did you get involved in Simla Youngs? What is your role at Simla Youngs?
I started playing football in Delhi in 1990 with Ashoka FC, over the years I played with Clubs like South India, Uttarakhand, Moonlight, Shahdara and finally Simla Youngs. With age catching up on me, and worn out knees I wanted to take other responsibilities, and Mr BS Chauhan offered me the Manager's post in 2001.
That year we also hired Mr Nirmal Singh, SAI Coach of Nehru Stadium West Wing as a coach and we won the A Division in Delhi. In 2002 the club did not do well in the Senior Division; however we got our act together under Ravi Rana in 2005 and won the Delhi League. The same year we played in the NFL 2.Division and finished 20th in India.
The responsibilities in Simla Youngs Management are divided as follows:
Mr. BS Chauhan takes care of the clubs interests in the DSA/AIFF levels.
Shri Sriram Singh is the President of club.
Arvind Jha takes care of Marketing activities.
Prabjot Singh is in charge of the 2 school leagues and all operational matters.
Myself: I coach at the training Centre, Manage/Coach the Senior team and am the main ideas man for the club. I coach the Kids on Mondays and set the pattern of training for the week. Every week I change the training. Sat and Sun mornings I coach the Senior team.
Please tell us the history of Simla Youngs, how it was formed and which league does it play in?
This club was formed in 1936 in Simla, when the Durand Cup was played there. In 1938 it moved to Delhi.
The clubs best year was in 1974 when it reached the Semifinals of the Durand Cup.
In the 1970's under the coaching of Chauhan Sahab, the club became the Delhi Champs 7 times. We became the Delhi champs again in 2005.
Where does the Club play its home games and where does it practise. How many players are there in the first team? Are the player's professionals or amateurs?
The Club plays its matches at the Ambedkar Stadium and at the Nehru Stadium warm up grounds when organised by the DSA. We practice at the Vinay Marg Sports Complex, near Nehru Park. All of our players are amateurs.
If we get corporate sponsorship for the Senior team, we are confident of breaking into the Elite NFL A in 2007 end!
How many youth teams does the club have? How is the set-up?
We are training kid's ages 4 to 20 years since November 2003, at our training centre.
In 2007, the club sent a team to Mumbai for the Manchester United U15 tournament.
In 2007, the club is sending 2 teams for the Welsh Cup ( www.welshsuper.com) in the age categories of:
A born on or later than 1 Sept 1991
B born on or later than 1 Sept 1995
There are no other inter-club tournaments in India, so it does not make sense to raise a team.
To bridge this gap the club is looking for a sponsor, and then shall implement an inter club U16 league.
How does the club fund itself? What is the estimated annual expense of running the club? Who owns the club?
The club is funded by:
Sponsors of the 2 school leagues
Training Centre Subscriptions
The club does not have a sponsor for the Senior team, U15 team, U16 team or the U11 team.
Currently the club is being funded by private investors. We do not expect or invite the Government to fund any of its activities.
Simla Youngs Football Private Limited is owned by Mr BS Chauhan, Sriram Sahab, Prabjot Singh, Arvind Jha, myself and few other individuals.
How did the idea of a football academy first come about? Is the plan for a residential academy? Has the academy already been constructed and built?
We wanted to take the best boys on motor skills from rural areas. Sriram Sahab's scintillating 1.45.77 min as 7th in Olympics in 1976, was the inspiration for believing that Indians can compete and win at the world level!
Right now we have abandoned the plan for a residential academy due to lack of funds.
Where in Delhi is the academy located and how many trainees are at the academy today? What is the average day in the life of a trainee like?
There are 60 kids aged 4 to 18 years at our training centre.
Majority of the them train for 1700 to 1900 hrs Mon, Wed, Fri. (Seniors do 30 min more)
Selected few comes for Elite Training on Saturdays and Sunday mornings too from 0700 to 0900 hrs.
What is the basis of selection of a trainee? When were the first trainees inducted and when will they "graduate"? What is the total number of trainees that you intend to have?
Anybody who is keen to play football, and can give a commitment to train for 1 year, is invited to join. We offer discounts:
Category - Discount
Govt employee Class 1 - 50%
Govt employee Class 2 & Class 3 - 66%
Govt employee Class 4 - 90%
War Hero's kid or Orphans - 100%
We offer Stipend to about 20 talented kids Ranging from Rs 600 to Rs 1500 per month, to motivate them further.
At the age of 17 we want the kids to get into the Senior team. I am happy to say that in 2006, Allan John and SH Aboy qualified.
We have 60 kids at present but need a total of 200. Then we are confident that we shall be able to produce 10 world class players.
Please tell us how many football coaches there are and how do you ensure that they remain at the cutting edge of football coaching?
There are at present six coaches on the ground. Sam Paul from Nigeria, Manoj Chowdhary, Sanjay Negi, Pradeep Nandi, Uttam Negi, Sunil Rawat.
We cannot share our training methodology; however we can say for sure it is truly world class.
Manoj and Sanjay are attending AFC C License Course from 21 April, 2007 organised by the DSA. My coaches shall take full use of such opportunities.
During Welsh Cup, we are seeking a tie up with an English Club to ensure we are upto date on our training methods.
What are top five things (or more) that will make a dramatic impact in quality of football in India.
1. Age verification of all the players. Make a database and put the names on the AIFF website.
2. Clubs need to form Private Ltd Co, with profit as a motive and should try to buy land for stadium.
3. The Government of India should legalise betting in sports and a percentage of the bets should come to the 2 clubs that are playing. During our matches, there is group of people from the walled city which bet on; the result, number of throws, number of corners, number of red cards, number of yellow cards. There is a transaction of Rs 1 lakh on our matches. Even if Rs 10,000 comes to our club, we shall earn Rs 2 lakhs each season from the betting itself! If we extend the same logic, the 20 clubs shall be getting Rs 40 lakhs in a season. Isn't it funny that the DSA League is conducted within a budget less than Rs 5 lakhs!!
4. Immediately institute the practice of transfer fees for inter-club movement of professionals - The world over, there is a notion of transfer fees for professional players. Clubs pay to get the best talent. In India the top 10 clubs that play in the NFL A probably have a budget to Rs 2 crore to 4 crore annually but do not pay any money to the smaller clubs to hire away talent from them. We spend a great deal of our time and resources in training youngsters but have faced instances where top clubs have taken our boys and not paid us anything. If there was a transfer fees, people would invest in the youth football development - for a future profit - and the quality of football would go up in the next 3-5 years.
5. Give tax incentives to corporates to sponsor football and inter-club tournaments - professional football will only develop if there is sufficient money in the game. Money will only come in if there is top level competition so the authorities have to step in and break the deadlock by giving say a 5 year tax holiday for every rupee invested in football.
6. The government should create a program to give land for stadiums at subsidized rates to top 3-5 clubs in the major cities. A club needs to have a home ground and facilities to train and attract the talent, the spectators and the followers.
7. The government/AIFF should give a matching 1:1 grant to the top 20 clubs to help them develop the game. This will be more effective than using the govt. machinery like CD grounds, Delhi Police etc for conduct of leagues.
8. AIFF should establish immediately a national under-16 tournament with significant prize money which will kick-start the youth club culture which is totally missing from the Indian scene.
What will happen to the trainees once they graduate? Will they be offered to other clubs or will they only play for Simla Youngs? How have the trainees shaped up so far?
We have the right to first refusal.
Quite a few players have been removed from the academy, as they falsified their ages and went for Age group trials for the Delhi State teams.
What are some of your long term plans that may be on the horizon with respect to the football academy?
If we get 200 kids on the training centre, we have a good chance of putting Indian in the World Cup in 2014.
How do you see the football culture in Delhi? Is football viable in Delhi? Will the school league under the Vision India project help?
Football is played in schools, as they have the grounds. That nexus has to be broken. We need to promote Inter Club competition in age group levels. Unfortunately, there are no other club academies in Delhi.
Football is viable in Delhi. It requires both: Dil and Dimag.
The Vision India school League in Delhi will not help matters. They are trying to do something which we have already done in 2001. They should scrap that, and invest time and money in building inter-club leagues for various ages.
What do you think about IndianFootball.Com and its work?
You guys are great! The site is informative and accurate. Thank you for writing to us at Simla Youngs!
Many, many thanks for all your work for the betterment of Indian football over the years and for the time taken to give us this interview!
the interview was conducted via eMail by Harmit Singh Kamboe (April 2007)
