Indian football is in a crisis. That may be an understatement considering that the sport has been in a dormant state for some time and hardly inspired confidence in the vast number of followers in the country. Football used to be a passion, like it is to its fans the world over. Considered the most popular sport in the world, football in India is just the antithesis of that, most disconcertingly. The situation is such that there are no backers for the sport, and all that remains is just hope that something miraculous will happen to set a revival mode! If a young aspiring talent kicks a football today, he could be pardoned if he does so not to reflect his soaring ambition, perhaps, but to convey his disgust in having taken up a sport that, as of now, looks without a future.

Things may still change for the better, for surely football in India cannot be driven or hidden away like that. Not after the sport had such a lively past. We have had stalwarts from the fifties and sixties, considered the golden age of Indian football. A barefoot Indian national team making France work hard for a victory in the 1948 Olympics is another memorable snippet from history. From there started off a phase that scripted a glorious chapter that included India’s conquest of gold in the Asian games and a spectacular fourth-place finish in the 1958........

© Mathrubhumi English