Beyond The Goal

A sudden spell of rain and a soggy afternoon didn't dampen my spirit from attending this one particular media conference at Mr Praful Patel’s office at Ministry of Civil Aviation. I virtually rushed upstairs to catch the ‘surprise package’ which the AIFF emergency committee members were waiting to uncork in the run up to pick the next general secretary. But I fail to understand why there has to be so much drama to pick the best candidate for the interview? There are couple of candidates who don’t have any footballing background yet they made the cut. I have even heard of a former cricketer who wants to occupy the hot seat. Has our football set-up been reduced to kind of a joke? After AIFF became a full-fledged organization in 1948, it had ‘veteran’ secretaries who were often blind to realities of modern football. Ever since I had started following football in the late 70s, I have heard of Mr Ashok Ghosh (I remember watching him on the TV during the inauguration of Nehru Cup in 1982...

Hectic schedules and tours almost prevented me from jotting down the thoughts around Indian football. So, here I am back again to share thoughts with you all. The past one month had been a real hectic one. From a chanced visit to Goa followed by the sudden development centering around AIFF after Mr Alberto Colaco decided to put in his papers after his eight-year reign as secretary. Lot of people have been asking me one simple question: Who would be the next secretary? From Mr Praful Patel to coaches and even Indian players. During the course of a meeting with AIFF president early this month, even Mr Patel wanted my opinion. "It's difficult to say. But whoever comes must have passion, clarity and an honest approach," I told him. Yes, honesty. That's what we don't apply while chalking out programmes to resuscitate Indian football. Let's take the case of the youth develpment project currently underway at Goa. 16 boys were asked to leave after they were found over...