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Volume 1. Issue 9. Off Season 2012.

AFC Under 22 Championship pg 31Rovers Cup set for a 2013 return pg 33

Foreign exposure for Indian Stars pg 34

In our off season issue, we try and encapsulate the spirit of football in India through 7 differ-ent stories from various parts of our country- from New Delhi to Durgawadi- we came across some exhilarating yet inspiring tales which define our country’s passion for the beautiful game.

We also lead you to the Ne-hru cup with a precursor feature on it accompanied by an article by senior Team India and Churchill Brothers player- Steven Dias. As India chases its 3rd consecutive Nehru Cup, it remains to be seen how new coach- Wim Koevermans copes with the current squad and manages them against teams like Cameroon and Syria who come in with a pedigree of their own.

Recapturing India’s gal-lant show at the Under-22 AFC Cup, we share all the match reports from the tournament.

We also profile upcoming Dempo stopper- Rowilson Ro-drigues in the Young Player section and feature top Indian players who have been appearing for trials for European clubs in the off-season.

We also have a report on the expected return of Rovers Cup next year. I hope that other regu-lar features like ‘Clicked Barefoot’ continue to enthrall our readers.

Hope you have good read.Aniket Mishra

Editor

Editorial Team Sajin Padiyath Isha Panwar

K.S. Yashaswini

Editor of Photography and Design

Syed Md. Hamza

Marketing Modhulika Bose

Harshal Agarwal

Contributors Bharathan Chandrasekaran

Amlan Jyoti Das Amrit Pradhan

Sajin Padiyath Souvik Naha

K.S. Yashaswini Isha Panwar

Neelesh Vineet Saran and Steven Dias

TO ADVERTISE CONTACT:barefoot@sportsjournal.in mail@sportsjournal.in +91 99118 85829

foot notes

Editor Aniket Mishra

Creative Head Neelesh Vineet Saran

Marketing Head Shubham Garg

CONTENTS

AFC Under 22 Championship pg 31Rovers Cup set for a 2013 return pg 33

Foreign exposure for Indian Stars pg 34

Precursor to the Nehru Cup pg14Young Player Profile: Rowilson Rodrigues pg12

CLICKED BAREFOOT pg 4

The Ball Project pg19Ready to Rise: United Sikkim FC pg21The soon to be Dr. Deepak Mehra pg23Youth Soccer League Organisation pg25Pepsi Changes the Game pg27Nagaland Premier Leaguepg28

COVER STORY Encapsulating the spirit of football in India

CONTENTS

We can make it three in a row : Steven Dias pg16

PIFA pg29

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clicked barefoot

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photography by Syed Hamza

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photography by Syed Hamza

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photography by Syed Hamza

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photography by Syed Hamza

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young player profile

Young Player Profile:Rowilson Rodrigues

Born in Margao on 26 March 1987 into a middle class Goan family, Rodrigues took to the sport as a 12 year old playing for fun un-til he was persuaded by his neigh-bour to appear for the SESA Foot-ball Academy trials. He coached under former Goan footballers Anthony Desouza and Vishwas Gaonkar at the Academy about whom he gratefully says, “Both of them have had the biggest influ-ence on my career. They put their faith in me and helped me develop my game. I remain indebted to them.” He began his career play-ing for the SESA F.A. or SFA team for the next four years and there has been no looking back, hence.

Rodrigues got a call from Goan club Churchill Broth-ers with whom he played in the 2010-11 I League season, after which he was snapped up by local rivals Dempo SC.

The changeover from one big city club to its rival has definitely improved his game while provid-ing much needed experience and opportunities. In his words, “At Dempo, I got a chance to learn a lot. There are so many quality players around. Mahesh bhai (Gawli), Cli-

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max Lawrence, Clifford Miranda have been so helpful and support-ive. They are big stars but never for a moment did they boast about it.”

This season saw him essay the role of one of Dempo’s most reli-able defenders as the club went on to win its fifth I League title in a most commendable manner, top-ping the league table after con-ceding just 21 goals in 26 match-es. A great display of defense, indeed, for someone playing his second season in the clash of the country’s biggest football clubs.

Dempo’s Assistant Coach Mauricio Alfonso has christened him as a ‘big match player’ and goes on to add that whereas match temperament defines a player, Rowilson has always risen to the occasion and has been exception-al this season – keeping his nerves under control and not allowing rivals to gain the upper hand.

Mahesh Gawli is all praises for the young lad in the Dempo fold. “He is a promising talent and likes to dominate on the field. He stays agile and is someone who is diffi-

cult to beat. These qualities make him stand out among others,” says the veteran about Rodrigues.

Rodrigues, for his part, gen-uinely appreciates the sporting ethic of Dempo when he says that, “The coaches, support staff and the management are very sup-portive. Importantly, there are no factions in the side. The club stays the right place for any player.”

(Based on an AIFF media release)

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feature

Nehru Cup 2012By Isha Panwar

Well into August, India will host the 15th edition of the Nehru Cup, now known as ONGC Nehru Cup. The international tourna-ment, organized by the AIFF, was first held in 1982 but was discon-tinued between 1998- 2006 for lack of sponsorship. Envisioned as an annual tournament, it was only held every alternate year since 1989 till its shelving in 1998.

The inaugural edition was won by Uruguay which defeated China 2-0 on the 4th of March that year after matches with

teams like Italy, Yugoslavia, In-dia and South Korea in the typi-cal round robin format. The 1997 title saw Iraq taking the title home.

Bob Houghton, to his credit, saw the need for more competitive action for Team India, then lan-guishing in stagnation and facing professional woes. Soon, the Ne-hru Cup was resuscitated. In 2007, India beat Syria 1-0 even after los-ing to them in an earlier fixture.

The 2009 edition saw a re-peat of the previous final as India emerged winners in a tournament

that was tipped heavily in favour of their opponents, Syria, a team that had survived without a loss in the entire round robin format. In-dia, which had to do without their skipper Bhaichung Bhutia after the first two matches, saw a shot in the arm when he returned to the start-ing XI in the final. A much needed inspiration, indeed, as this was a match where India would meet a team that had defeated them ear-lier and involved a psychologically more daunting task of facing an opponent ranked 61 places above

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Indian Team after the recent SAFF triumph

them in the FIFA rankings, at 95, and one which had not conceded any goal thus far.

The final was held on the hot evening of 31st August and progressed into becom-ing a cracker of a spectacle as neither scored nor conced-ed any goals. This continued even at full time and beyond but Renedy Singh scored the breakthrough in the 117th minute on penalty. The up-roarious atmosphere was un-matched as India went ahead to win 5-4 in penalties. Goal-keeper Subrata Paul saved the penalty which won the game and the title for India.

What was more notewor-thy and heartening was the sup-

port that turned up for the home team in the form of swarming crowds which even clogged the traffic around the venue, Ambedkar Stadium, in New Delhi. The Sikkimese Sniper completed 100 international matches in the final and topped it off with a delightful victory.

Now, what we can hope for is a replay of the same when the 2012 ONGC Nehru Cup gets underway on 23rd August in New Delhi. Maldives, Ne-pal, Syria and the 59th ranked Cameroon have confirmed their participation. Watch out for the final on Septem-ber 2nd and keep your fingers crossed as India will look to defend its two successive titles.

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Lalrindika and Gurpreet at the preparatory camp

The Nehru Cup has been one of the most special tournaments that I have played in my career. The tournament was important not only because it was the first major tournament held in India in a long time but also that by even-tually winning the tournament people realised that Indian foot-ball exists. Also, for my personal career it was a major tournament as it brought a lot of recognition to all the players. Playing in front of the home crowd is a special feel-ing. I think Delhi is the best crowd

I have played for; they always come in numbers and cheer for us.

I remember the first game of Nehru Cup in 2007; I was very nervous because it was a big tour-nament and Bob Houghton was a new coach to me. But the way Bob dealt with the players, the way he used to motivate, teach and inspire us – was something different than any other coach I have played for. Only after his ar-rival did I as a player realised what professional football is all about. He was the best coach I have

ever played under. Also the pres-ence of strikers of the quality of Sunil Chhetri and Baichung Bhu-tia were really important. If they would not have had converted the chances the midfielders created for them, nobody would have re-membered us nor the tournament.

The entire tournament has been so special for me it is hard to pick out a few solitary moments from the two editions of the Ne-hru Cup. The experience of play-ing in the first final in 2007 was something amazing. After our

Steven Dias - one of the most recognised Indian footballers from recent times and an integral part of the victorious Nehru Cup Indian teams from 2007 and 2009 writes for Barefoot sharing his experience in the two editions of the tournament. Always dan-gerous from free kicks and set-pieces, his crossing ability and performances came into the spot light having scored 3 goals and creating several others in the competition. The 28-year old writes about then national coach Bob Houghton, his team mates and also expresses his disappointment having not made the squad this time around.

We can make it three in a row

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loss to Syria in the group stage of the competition Bob did not say a single word in criticism nor did he point out any mistakes. This not only helped us but also inspired us when we went on to play them again in the final. Also the way Bob inspired by us in the dress-ing room before the final – mak-ing us realise this was our oppor-tunity to do something huge for Indian football, had us wanting to win the game not only for the country and ourselves - but also for the coach himself. We won that final with N.P Pradeep scoring a fine goal just before half time.

When the next edition came in 2009 there was pressure as defend-ing champions that we would win the trophy again. As a team how-

ever we hardly felt the pressure as we were very confident of putting up a good show. The majority of the team had remained unchanged from 2007 and by this time there was a special bonding among the players as well as the coaching staff. The addition of Lebanon made the tournament more com-petitive. We had played against Lebanese sides a few times in both club and national competitions.

We met Syria in the final again in 2009. The final this time around went to the penalties af-ter two goals in the extra-time - a free kick from Renedy Singh was cancelled out by a late Syrian equaliser. I can never forget the walk from the centre circle to the penalty kick to the penalty spot in

front of the packed crowd. Tired minds and legs, the de-motivation of conceding a last minute goal and the expectations of the crowd added to the pressure. Initially I did not want to take the penalty but Bob again motivated and in-spired me to take the spot kick. Fortunately I scored the penalty and we won the shoot-out to win the Nehru Cup for the second time.

Coming into this year’s tour-nament, I am obviously disap-pointed and a bit surprised not to have made the squad. After having played in the SAFF Cup last year which we won, I am disappointed to have not made the cut but I am confident that I would come back to the National side with my per-formances in the upcoming season.

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feature

COVER STORY|18

COVER STORY

Take a Sunday evening stroll through Hari Om Nagar in the Mu-lund suburb of Mumbai and you are likely tobump into three afflu-ent youngsters playing with what would seem slum dwellers. Take a closer look and you find them not only playing with the kids but also imparting them essential lessons and life-skills. Rohit D’ Souza (28),an AIFF licensed coach, along with his friends Prajakt Patil (29) and Rupali Shedge Warang(28), incidentally both of whom are architects, have been conducting such sessions every Sunday for a good part the last three years. They call it the Ball Project.

Duragwadi is a slum settle-ment around a dumping ground at Mulund in Mumbai. Compris-ing of around 80 families, their livelihood comes from what could be crudely put down as waste segregation. Their livelihood de-pends on waste segregation and the current third-generation fami-lies of the settlement have come to accept the dumping ground as a part their lives. “For them

this is their lifestyle. Although our society might see them as slum-dwellers, we accept them as they are.” says Rohit D’Souza co-founder of the Ball Project.

Started in August 2009 by co-founders Prajakt and Rohit, the Ball Project have continued to inspire and more importantly inform the settlement dwellers, from the youngest to the eldest, on the basic essentials of life. This they do through weekly sessions of play and learning. Although the initial attempt was to edu-cate, empower and develop them through sport they had to begin with imparting them with basic knowledge of numbers and di-rection. “Everything was new to them. They had never known of a concept of sports and had to be taught the basics of everything, not just sport.” explains Rohit.

Rohit adds “In fact Play, Rec-reation and Sports are separate entities with Play being an unor-ganised form of entertainment and Sports being the most structured and organised form of any game

with rigid rules and regulations. We had to begin with teaching them how to play and just have fun and be entertained. Now, af-ter three years we are in transition from Play to Recreation, where we could discipline their lives by adding rules to the games they play. We now teach them the ba-sics of football and other sports.”

Having previously worked with MagicBus, an NGO in Mum-bai, Rohit had prior experience of working with the lesser privileged section of the society. Here in Durgawadi, he started with simple sessions where children played to-gether and were introduced to idea of teams and rules. The play ses-sions worked like informal edu-cation where they imparted les-sons on daily-life and more. With time and patience Rohit and his friends started learning a lot more about the kids and created vari-ous activities for kids of different age groups, talent and interests. Getting girls involved in the ac-tivities was yet another challenge but now the energy levels shown

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The Ball ProjectBy Sajin Padiyath

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by the girls in the ses-sions are at par with boys. Even the adults participate in the sessions now as they could not hold themselves back watching their kids play.

“Through these sessions the kids and adults both have learnt the importance of clean-liness, discipline, protecting the body from injuries and so on. We had to show them how footwear can prevent injuries to get them to wear shoes. The others follow soon as they watch and learn.” says Rohit.

Rohit doesn’t believe in providing the families with fi-nancial support or freebies of any kind. “A lot of NGOs and families take pity on them and provide them with free food

and clothing. What they don’t realise is that they are not ex-actly poor as most of the kids earn around Rs.200 per day from selling and segregating the wastes. The dwellers are in need of discipline, education and culture and need to devel-op life skills which we focus on.”

The Ball project doesn’t take in volunteers as they be-lieve that anyone involved in the project should share their preciseoutlook toward the project. Only Rupali has joined hands with Rahul and Prajakt since the project’s inception. Rohit explains “We are afraid volunteers may not see things the same way as we do. Also volunteers with their sheer exuberance might give the

kids an overdose of informa-tion and the kids would be left confused. Their intentions are at right but we don’t need an already full cup overflowing.”

Rohit is in the process of registering the Ball project as an NGO. Now after three years, he believes it is time to spread the project. Rohit claims he has benefitted more from this project than the settle-ment dwellers and their fami-lies. “I have learnt more about football and life from these kids than I have ever done in my life. The recognition and the networking are other by-products of our work. People know me for the Project and the work we do.” he concludes.

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Ready to Rise: United Sikkim FCBaichung Bhutia is a man on

a mission. The mission to take top-flight football to the North East. Most Professionals don’t last on the field until the age of 35; those that do are looking to kip down from their profession. Bhutia is 36; instead talking of retirement, the man who is the face of Indian Football is at the cusp of his lat-est and perhaps the most enterpris-ing adventure and perhaps also his greatest-footaballing challenge.

It was always Bhutia’s de-sire to take football into his home state, and tap the massive talent that exists in the state, and give something back to the sport and reciprocate the love and adula-tion of the people. The dream

took shape out of the blue; in a boardroom in Dubai’s ultra-mod-ern commercial province. Bhutia was there for a training camp for the ASIAN CUP with the Indian team. His friend and now former agent, Navneet Sharma-now the CEO of FidelisWorld-introduced Bhutia to his chairman, Anand Krishnan. FidelisWorld is a fresh entrant into in the sports and en-tertainment market and is based in Dubai. Krishnan shared Bhu-tia’s vision for the development of Football in India. That’s how Unit-ed Sikkim Football Club (USFC), with FidelisWorld as the majority share holder, and the likes of the famous singer Shankar Mahade-van and the newly formed multi-

conglomerate EMTA GROUP (SHIRT SPONSOR) and Baichung Bhutia who also has a stake in the club, this is how the dream be-came reality. The leading sports brand Nike Inc. is also the kit sponsor of “the SNOW LIONS”.

United Sikkim Football Club is a healthy mix of Indian and over-seas talent, with Indian interna-tionals like the versatile defender NS Manju, the experienced attack-er Bijen Singh, who has an eye for goals. Overseas recruits like the Nigerian trio of Babatunde John, Daniel Bedemi and Salao Nurud-din. They also have talented local players like Joseph Daniel and the TATA FOOTBALL ACADEMY graduate Karan Atwal. They have

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an experienced coach and manager in form of Phillipe De Ridder, the Belgian who also has played for the now dis-solved RWD Molenbeek in the Belgian League and also man-aged Calcuttan Giants East Bengal and also Chirag United (now Prayag United).

In their first professional season they fought it out in the I-LEAGUE 2nd Division with the likes Mohammedan Sporting Club of Kolkata, Sporting Club de Goa of Goa and Shillong Lajong of Lajong contesting for getting promot-ed to the first division. They started their campaign well by drawing 1-1 against Sporting Club de Goa, who eventually got promoted with Shillong Lajong. They finished 5th in their first season of Profession-

al Football, a commendable effort by the team. In their 2nd season in the I-LEAGUE 2nd Division they had a weak-er team as the likes of Johnny Meyongkar, who was a Libe-rian international then, Joseph Lapira, the former Irish inter-national and other player like M.Ichihara and Quinton Jacobs left the club. But then also with a weakened team they quali-fied for the Top-flight of Indian Football, the I-LEAGUE. In the I-LEAGUE 2nd Division prelimi-nary stages,they were placed in Group C with the likes of Ar-Hima, Aizawl, Southern Sam-ity, Green Valley, Bhawanipore and Eagles. They topped the group with 13 points and qual-ified for the FINAL ROUND of 1-LEAGUE 2nd Division 2012. In the FINAL ROUND with some

fine performances by players like Daniel Bedemi and Joseph Daniel they finished 2nd with 21 pts with ONGC finishing first o having superior goal dif-ference to United Sikkim FC.

The whole of Sikkim was delighted by this piece of news and it was a total contrast as few months’ back Earthquake had struck Sikkim, due to the earthquake United Sik-kim FC office was totally shed into dust. It was a PRESENT by Baichung Bhutia and team to the people of Sikkim. They made a history by breaking into the first division only after they formed were in 2011.Now the I-LEAGUE, the top –flight of INDIAN FOOTBALL beckons the SNOW LIONS. Watch out the Calcuttans’and the Goans’ for the SNOW LIONS. WE WISH

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Deepak Mehra, on any other day could be the average Delhi University student. More so a student because he is well on his way to obtaining a Ph D in physi-cal education. What demysti-fies this image is the knowledge that this man’s shoes have kicked more goals than most others in the Santosh Trophy. He has come a long way from being the lad who took up hotel management for a career, only to ditch it within a year to pave way for his passion- football. With initial stints at BB Star and Royal Football Club in Division A, he moved over to the Delhi United. It has proved him

and the club highly beneficial.Deepak’s effective move-

ment and marksman like tenden-cies led to a flurry of goals and a second place finish in the 2009-10 season for Delhi United. Long and short term injuries had kept him away from the pitch for quite a period, but Mehra was one to prove his resilience. Now assess-ing his performance over the last two years he says, “I am satisfied but I could have done better if I would have given more playing time.” Considerably, he has made only one start in six matches. In that very game, against Anda-man and Nicobar he had scored

a hat-trick. He has got only brief spells of 5-10 minutes on the field to prove himself as Delhi United has an abundance of senior talent in its squad. This however has not bowed Mehra down. “I will take it as a learning experience and m sure it will help me to improve my performance as there were good coaches and senior players who guided me in a positive manner.”

This outing at Santosh Tro-phy was Deepak’s first and pre-sumably he feels that it was a good time for a first time. The Delhi Soccer Association would have been proud of its boys for the kind of start it got at the 66th edition

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The soon to be Dr. Deepak MehraDeepak Mehra was one of Barefoot’s first spotting, and half a year later we are looking again at the flight of this young footballer, whose wings are now well spread and soaring.

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of the Santosh Trophy. The first game against Andaman and Nico-bar Islands, where Mehra added four assists to his hat-trick, Delhi beat ANI 13-0. Then it climbed up the cluster 1 ladder with wins over Gujarat and Jharkhand. However, at the knock-out stages Tamil Nadu and Railways damp-ened Delhi’s chances at the title even as they thrashed Mizoram 3-0 in their last game at the cam-paign. Mehra adds, “we defeated nearly every team we played.” His disappointment was overbear-ing when he emphasises that “the scoreline was really close with Tamil Nadu and the Railways.”

Evidently he has carved his image from this tournament as a

person who shoots at will. Probe him a bit on what his plans are, following this short but successful tournament as a player, he answers as a team man. “My next step is to focus on the Delhi League and the 2nd Division at the I-League with my same old club- Delhi United Football Club”. What about his thesis on validation of soccer specific interval test on indian male soccer players? “I will try to complete my Ph D as soon as possible.” He is quick to point out that his “main aim is to play for the country” and that he will “work hard for that.” On this promis-ing note, Barefoot winds up the chat with the inspired youngster.

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Deepak’s coach at Delhi United-

Pramod Rawat

Jaipur has its own junior football league for three years now, thanks to the Youth Soccer League Organisation (YSLO). Founded in 2009 by Shubham Garg and Sohil Bhansali, YSLO, a registered trust, aims at organizing an Under-18 football league on the lines of popular cricket leagues in India with the purpose of promoting soc-

cer throughout the country by conducting tournaments, coaching camps etc. Besides Jaipur, it is involved in simi-lar projects in cities like Del-hi, Varanasi and Guwahati.

The organization is being run by young and enthusias-tic people who are commit-ted towards the development of youth and the game of soccer. Their sponsors in-

clude Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital (SDMH), AU Financiers, Sanga Au-tomobiles, Unique Build-ers, MTS India, MY FM etc.

Students of schools like Sawai Man Singh School, St Xavier’s, Neerja Modi, Delhi Public School (Jaipur), St. Anslems, IIS, Mayo College (Ajmer), Vidyashram etc. par-

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Youth Soccer League Organisation

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By Isha Panwar

ticipate in the league matches. League teams comprise play-ers from different age groups and different schools. Say the founders, “This concept is initiated to develop the spirit of sportsmanship and pro-vide a friendly environment to upcoming players and help build a passion for the game.” The League is a 10 day- long football festival which sees the participation of more than 200 players every year. Each team is owned by a spon-sor and consists of players from different schools. Ac-tive participation from par-ents and people from the lo-cal community is also seen.

Recently concluded events have created a de-mand for more football tour-naments in the city and state as more and more young-sters now want to play foot-ball. YSLO is now involved in the process of setting up an academy and a football club to train players and pro-vide them opportunities to play further. Further, YSLO plans to take the Leagues and Tournaments to other parts of the Country and spread with them the football spirit.

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Pepsi changes the gameIndia witnessed international

football sensation, Didier Drog-ba coach the national winners of the mega tournament, Pepsi T20 Football which has been creat-ing waves across the nation over the past few months. In its move to promote the sport in the coun-try, Pepsi invited its global brand ambassador and iconic player, Di-dier Drogba to encourage grass-roots talent, as well as provide Indian fans an opportunity to get closer to their football hero.

As part of the Pepsi T20 Football finale, eight best ama-teur teams from around the coun-try played against each other to emerge victorious and get an opportunity of a lifetime to be coached by Drogba. They were then joined by Bollywood super-star and avid football fan, Ranbir

Kapoor to play a friendly football match with the Indian cricket stars including Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Harb-hajan Singh and Murali Vijay. The cricketers’ team was coached by India’s very own football star, Baichung Bhutia. Football fever gripped the national capital as thousands of football enthusiasts enjoyed the thrill of the sport and witnessed Drogba share interest-ing tips with the winning team at the Thyagraj Stadium. The event was truly a one of a kind Pepsi ex-travaganza with the unique blend of football, cricket, entertainment and the excitement of Youngistaan.

On his maiden visit to India for Pepsi T20 Football, Didier Drogba said, “I am thrilled to come to In-dia for Pepsi T20 Football, which is a unique initiative to promote foot-

ball in the country. It is also great to see football gain acceptance in a country where cricket is a religion and would like to congratulate Pepsi for being the first ever brand to bring both these two sports to-gether for the very first time. Pepsi has truly Changed the Game. I look forward to another visit to India and get to interact more with football enthusiasts here.”

Homi Battiwalla, Category Director, Colas, Hydration and Mango Based Beverages, Pep-siCo India said, “Pepsi has always been at the forefront of celebrating youth passions including cricket, movies, music and now football. Internationally, we have a strong association with football and are delighted with the success of our first football campaign in India. The response to our on-air cam-

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paign along with the one of its kind grassroots tournament, Pepsi T20 Football has been unprece-dented; and with Didier Drogba’s visit, we have truly Changed the Game. We look forward to bring-ing the tournament back in a big-ger and better avatar next year.”

“Drogba is an iconic player with unmatched popularity across the globe. His visit to India for Pepsi T20 Football is a testimony to our ultimate objective of popularizing football in the country,” he added.

Drogba’s visit to India was part of Pepsi’s first football campaign in the country that was launched

with an irreverent TVC starring Ranbir Kapoor, which set the tone for the real action. It was followed by Pepsi T20 Football - an innova-tive format for youngsters, which combined the excitement and fun of T20 style of playing cricket with the speed, thrill and spirit of football. Organized in a unique metallic cage, the tournament was held in major Indian cities includ-ing Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Lucknow, Ludhiana and Delhi, with phenomenal response. A total of 3,136 players in 448, seven-a-side teams competed in knock-out style 20-minute match-

es to reach the city finals. Eight teams, including one winning team from each city and one wild card entry from their Facebook community competed in the grand finale to emerge as ‘Game Chang-ers’. Drogba, along with other international footballers - Frank Lampard, Fernando Torres, and Indian cricket stars also featured in Pepsi’s spectacular ‘Football meets Cricket’ TV commercial.

-CourtesyGenesis Burson-Marsteller

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NAGALAND PREMIER LEAGUE: ONE FOR THE FUTURE

There is the Calcutta Foot-ball League, boasting of India’s two biggest (and one of the oldest) clubs which are currently going through a crisis of management which seems to be eating away at their performance in field. Then there is the league in the vibrant state of Goa which by far is bet-ter then other regional leagues in India. Cut to March this year when the Nagaland Premier League has officially commenced. This one is set to revolutionize the football structure in India. Even if it be-longs to the class of state leagues, these are very important for devel-oping a true football culture in In-dia. Such commercial leagues will attract youngsters and motivate them to take up the sport besides boosting its popularity in India.

Nagaland Premier League is a joint venture of the Nagaland Football Association and the 442 Management Company. The idea for the NPL was conceived sever-al years ago but, due to dearth of sponsors and manpower, the idea had remained abeyant. In 2011, the

442 Management, a professionally managed organization based in Dimapur, Nagaland came forward with a proposal that was readily ac-cepted and approved by the NFA. 442 Management is contracted by the NFA to solely run the Naga-land Premier League. Their main objectives is to change the view of North-East people that Football is a charity sport and make it a rec-reational sport and take the sport to the grass-root levels in the state and also to nurture and foster the untapped talent of the Naga youth. The NPL is set to pave the way for ample employment opportunities and widen the scope of football as a professionally viable career option.

First season finale:Barak Flamingoz emerged

as the champions of the in-augural season of the Naga-land Premier League, finishing ahead from their nearest rivals- Naga Tornadoes by two points.

What is surprising though is the fact that the Naga Torna-does are the only team in this year’s league who remained, but

they wered undone by not be-ing able to close out matches and playing out too many draws.

On the other hand, Barak Fla-mingoz ended up winning 14 match-es, drawing 2 and losing 2 games.

New Market club finished bottom of the points table, win-ning only game and mustering just 4 points from the 18 matches..

The elated Barak Man-agement sent the following message to its fans via a pop-ular social networking site-

“We have done it! We are the champions of Nagaland. Thank You to everyone who have been supporting and praying for us since day one. We, the BFFC manage-ment, will forever cherish today. What we have achieved today is not for ourselves. It is for everyone who has been behind us. Your end-less support has made this achieve-ment even more meaningful for all of us. It humbles us and we are hopeful that we’ll achieve many more things in the days ahead.”

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By Amlan Jyoti Das and Amrit Pradhan

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The Premier India Football Academy (PIFA) – A Feature

Colaba – the southernmost precinct of Mumbai, has always been synonymous with football in the city. Having a close proxim-ity to the home of Mumbai Foot-ball - the Cooperage Ground, the locality has produced many India international footballers. The Co-laba back garden still remains the grass root facility training ground for many schools and amateur clubs. In spite of the rich foot-balling culture associated with the locality, lately football in Colaba has associated itself with a new name, perhaps even a new identity – PIFAColaba F.C. This in itself speaks volumes of the influence The Premier India Football Acad-emy (PIFA) has had on the football

in Colaba and at large Mumbai. Founded in 2006, the acad-

emy is the brainchild ofco-found-ers Anjali and Nirvan Shah.Their objective put down in blunt words – The dream to see India play in the FIFA World Cup 2022. PIFA aims to provide grassroot training facility of the highest standards to young aspiring footballers. Start-ing out with a men’s senior team in 2007, PIFA has now teams in four age-groups as well as a women’s team; all competing in the local football leagues. Hav-ing adopted the ColabaYoungstar FC in 2007, the re-branded PIFA Colaba Men’s senior team won successive promotions in the next two seasons and now plays in the

MDFA Elite Division and the I-League’s 2nd tier competition.

Nirvan Shah is the proud owner of several professional li-censes, including a UEFA-B Coaching License, FA Levels 1 & 2 Certificates and AIFF Coaching Instructor for D License, among others. With two UEFA licensed coaches in their staff, PIFA has built its success on the back of the quality grass root training provided to the kids. The teams have regularly tasted success in both local and international tour-naments alike.The academy stu-dents are exposed to world class training facilities on trips to top European clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona and AC Milan

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during their fre-quent trips abroad.

PIFA has now spread its train-ing facility to over 1000 kids from the city, all trained under the guid-ance of licensed PIFA coaches. The biggest contribution to the community by PIFA yet has been the “PIFA Foundation for the Benefit of Sports”. Established in 2007, the foundation helps the lesser privileged children to de-velop into football players and pro-vide them with all the necessary kits, equipment as well as provid-ing them with financial support so that the children are not forced to work. Anjali Shah- Director of the PIFA Academy and Presi-dentof the PIFA Foundation and has been actively involved in Ma-harashtra state Women’s Teams.

PIFA Colaba’s steady rise has meant that it now attracts the

aims to take the Academy to the next level. The results can already be seen as the PIFA Under 15 team recently claimed the NIKE Man-chester United Premier Cup (West & South)Zonal Championship and then went on to the be the All India Finalist in the same competition.

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best talent from the city, who as-pire to develop and move on to play for the senior team. With one of the largest fan base among lo-cal teams from Mumbai, the club has gained immense popularity among the footballing fraternity in just six years of its establish-ment and has managed to create a truly community based club.

Having recently appointed Fa-

ruk Ahmed,an UEFA and AFC – A Licensed coach, as the technical director and the head coach of all the teams from the Academy, PIFA

AFC Under-22 Championships:All Match Reports

India breeze past Lebanon

India opened their campaign by defeating Lebanon 5-2 in the opening match of the AFC U-22 Championship at the picturesque stadium. Manandeep paid the per-fect tribute to his grandfather head-ing in a scorching header off a Lal-rindika cross in the 16th minute to put India in the lead while Alwyn George slotted it past an advanc-ing rival goalkeeper Nazih Hassan in the 39th minute. He added one more in the 55th minute while Jeje Lalpekhlua scored his first goal in the 71st minute and comple-tyed the rout in the 90th minute.

India go down fighting to Iraq

Despite down by two goals, In-dia didn’t panic. Rather, they tried regrouped. After a string of pass-es in the 69th minute, Lalrindika Ralte’s long-ranger almost beat the diving rival goalkeeper Yaseen Yas but Yas managed to palm it away for a corner. In the very next min-ute, Dika’s free-kick hit the wall.

India pressed and soon Dika and Allwyn’s one-twos had the Iraqis guessing. In the 75th minute, Manandeep tried to tap in between the two stoppers but Yasees was quick to react.

The Iraqis tried to slow down the game in the last quarter of the

match but Alwyn was too good for them. He shrugged off three de-fenders and tap it over an onrush-ing Yaseen in the 82nd minute.

The rest of the match, India went all out but Iraq managed to hold on.

India hold UAEDown by an early Jamal

Ibrahim goal, as early as the 9th minute, India came back strong-ly to hold UAE 1-1 in the U-22 AFC Championship. After a barrage of attacks on the rival citadel, Romeo Fernandes re-stored parity in the 88th minute.

You fail to keep a track of the chances India had in the second half. The tragedy stays the score sheet never reflects the manner of the match. It just reflects the score. And UAE just managed to hold on by the skin of their teeth.

National Coach Wim Koev-ermans and Technical Director Rob Baan congratulated the team on their splendid fightback. “I told you, you will find some good boys in this batch,” Papas told Wim.

“The boys fought well. It was heartening to fight with such a spirit against such a quality side,” AIFF general Secretary Kushal Das, who had dropped in to watch the match, commented. The match ended 1-1 and India could have easily gone back home with three points.

India next play Turk-menistan on June 30.

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feature

Beat TurkmenistanIndia defeated Turkmeni-

stan 4-1 in their fourth match of the AFC U-22 Qualifiers at the Sultan Qaboos Stadium in Muscat. India now move to 7 points from 4 matches and next play hosts Oman on July 3.

Besides Dika, Alwyn George scored in the 69th minute and Romeo Fernandes, in the 76th minute. Jeje Lalpekhlua con-verted from the spot in the 86th minute to complete the rout. For Turkmenistan, Italmazov Far-

had equalised in the 59thminute.

Loss to Oman There are days when domi-

nation doesn’t yield you anything. Tuesday (July 3) stayed such. India despite having more possession for most part of the match bowed out of the AFC U-22 Championship when they went down to Oman four-nil in the last match at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat. Hamood Saleh scored the first goal for Oman in the 54th minute while Faed Ibrahim scored

the second goal in the 67th minute. Besides, Saleh Hadid and Mubarak Humaid scored one apiece.

After a dominating first half, India lost control in the second half. If it was all India in the first 45 minutes, the first 20 minutes of the second half settled the issue for the hosts. India finished with 7 points from 5 matches while Oman on 10 points from 7 matches.

-Courtesy AIFF Media Team

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Rovers Cup set to return next year

The second oldest football tournament in the world, The Rov-ers Cup is set to make a comeback sometime next year, if Western India Football Federation (WIFA) is to be believed. Started in 1891 and last held in the 2000-01 the tournament might make a return between May and August 2013.

The WIFA plans to stage the

Rovers Cup in the renovated and refurbished Cooperage Stadium, which incidentally is set to make its own comeback to the national football scene by hosting the home matches of the Mumbai-based clubs - Air India and Mumbai F.C, in the coming I-league season 2012-13.

The Rovers Cup back in the

day had been the premier foot-ball competition in India and was started by British football enthusi-asts in Bombay in 1891. However it would not be until three decades that an Indian team participated in the competition. Mohun Bagan in 1923 became the first Indian team to play in the Rovers Cup, where they lost in the finals to Durham Light Infantry by a scoreline of 1-4.

Bangalore Muslims was

the first Indian team to win the competition in 1937 when they beat Mohammedan Sporting 1-0. Mohun Bagan remain the most successful side in the com-petition having won it 14 times, including the latest staging of the competition in 2000-01. The

inception of the I-League and several other lucrative local and national competitions meant the Rovers Cup lost its sheen and hence was discontinued in 2001.

Several attempts to revive the competition in the past have proved futile, but WIFA remain confident of breathing new life into the Rovers Cup. Incidentally the AIFF had given the WIFA a window in September to stage the tournament, but the unavail-ability of the Cooperage stadium meant the tournament will have to wait a little longer for its return.

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feature

The past month or two has been eventful for Indian football fans with a few Indian players heading off to some of Europe’s top clubs for training cum trial stints. Sunil Chhteri’s recent high profile move to Portugal’s Sporting Club De Portugal, more commonly known as Sporting Lisbon, grabbed the maximum number of eyeballs with the media paying close atten-tion to each game he plays. Sunil for now has joined up with the B

squad of Portugese football’s third most successful club with an op-portunity to move up to the senior squad, based on his performances.

This is not the first time Sunil has plied his trade in foreign lands having played in the United States and the Great Britain earlier. Sunil was denied an opportunity to play in the English League when he failed to obtain a work permit after signing a three-year contract with Queens Park Rangers in 2009. He

then moved on to Major League Soccer club Kansas City Wizards in 2010 and stayed with the club through 2011. He also had at-tended a trial stint at Scottish side Glasgow Rangers along with com-patriot Jeje Lalpekhlua in late 2011.

The other two moves to Eu-rope both involved goalkeepers. Considered to be one of India’s fin-est footballing talent Subrata Pal teamed up with German Fourth Division side Red Bull Leipzig

feature

Foreign Exposure for Indian StarsIn this Section we have a look at the players who have gone and attended trials for teams in Europe in the Off season.

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for a training stint in July. The 25 year old goalkeeper has been the Indian number 1 for the last few years and has received accolades from several quarters of the me-dia, especially when represent-ing India in International com-petitions. He was the subject of several speculative moves to top Asian clubs after an impressive performance in AFC Asian Cup 2011 though none materialised.

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s move to English Premier League club Wigan Athletic in mid-July was a pleasant surprise to most In-dian football fans. Gurpreet’s stay with Wigan only lasted for the du-ration of the training period as he would not have qualified for a work permit to play in England, owing to Indian national side’s lowly FIFA World rankings. It is believed that the 20 year old East Bengal cus-todian’s move had been made pos-sible by John ‘Budgie’ Burridge, a popular sports pundit with a leading sports channel. John Bur-ridge was the man who discovered Oman international goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi and secured his move to the English Premier League.

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