The Hindu : Sport : Kerala football has to go back to basics

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Kerala football has to go back to basics

Stan Rayan

KOCHI: It's a state that has produced I.M. Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri, two of Indian football's brightest gems. And it is home to Kannur's Denson Devadas whose stunning goals gave Bengal the Santosh Trophy in Kolkata on Sunday, but shockingly, Kerala is now mourning the lack of quality footballers.

“Our players are very low in skill,” says M.M. Jacob, the Kerala coach at the Santosh Trophy, the National Championship.

“The stuff we have now is not as good as what we had some ten years ago, when I coached the Kerala team before this. The basic skills are very poor now. I'm talking about the general scene in the State.”

Jacob, a star of the Indian team at the 1978 Asian Games in Bangkok, was specific.

“There are very few left-footers now, players who can kick with the left foot on the run; nobody who can do a good job as a left wing back.”

Dedication is another crucial factor missing in players of the current generation, feels the former Kerala captain.

“Footballers are not dedicated these days; sincerity is not there. Players don't play their hearts out.”

Probably, one reason could be because the majority of the players in this year's Santosh Trophy team did not come from a dominant team.

“Earlier, we had five or six players from the Kerala Police in the Kerala team. After that it was SBT which was a sort of majority.

“The players combined well, they had good understanding. Now that sort of thing is missing,” says Jacob.

Lack of exposure

A good way to develop skills is to play more quality matches, gain exposure. But that seems to be missing.

“Apart from Viva Kerala, our only I-League team, our teams are seriously lacking in match experience. Earlier, we used to have around seven all-India tournaments, now there are very few quality tournaments.

Even the State League is a sort of knockout format,” said Jacob.

“We need to have the all-play-all format, preferably, on a home and away basis. The more we play, the better we get.”

The lack of tournaments is present at almost all levels.

“When we used to play in the seventies, we had five or six strong schools tournaments in Ernakulam: At the SRV School, Angamaly, Kanjoor, Kothamangalam and Perumbavoor. Now we have almost nothing.”

And the grounds are all slowly vanishing.

“Children these days don't have a ground where they can run and play freely. There is so much restriction everywhere. I think, if we get the Ambedkar Stadium (in Kochi), develop it nicely, it will help football in a big way,” says Jacob.

Eye-opener

The trip to Kolkata had been an eye-opener for the former international.

“There are so many grounds there. And if you look around, you can see hundreds of children playing in all these grounds. Almost all the clubs there have small academies. That sort of thing is missing in Kerala. And very few job opportunities for footballers too.”

Kerala should now look to the grassroots all over again, says Jacob. But he had a word of caution.

“We should have a lot of academies, all over the State. But there is no use looking at the grassroots if you don't have good coaches training them,” says Jacob.

Coaches poorly paid

“Players who come as coaches are very few. If you look at almost all the schemes we have, the coaches are paid very poorly. But if you pay the coaches well, you will have good coaches and good quality coaching too.

“And the State association should have a chief coach who travels around and picks talented players.”

“And then, probably, we could spot a Devadas. Perhaps a Vijayan too.”

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