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India’s football past gasping for survival

Kolkata | By
Mar 25, 2018 10:54 AM IST

Century-old tournaments like IFA Shield, Durand Cup and Rovers Cup have been overshadowed by the more glitzy and marketable tournaments like I-League and Indian Super League

It fit that Kolkata, once described as chance-directed, chance-erected, has given the 72nd Santosh Trophy a place to stay when the tournament was struggling to find one. It began quietly less than two nights after a packed house in Bangalore watched Chennaiyin FC win their second Indian Super League (ISL) title.

November 10, 1993: East Bengal striker Sanjay Majhi drills in a left-footer beyond Punjab State Electricity Board goalkeeper Balwinder Singh Binda for the winner as defender HP Singh (left) watches helplessly in the Durand cup football final in New Delhi. East Bengal won-1-0 lift the trophy for the 11th time.(HT file photo)
November 10, 1993: East Bengal striker Sanjay Majhi drills in a left-footer beyond Punjab State Electricity Board goalkeeper Balwinder Singh Binda for the winner as defender HP Singh (left) watches helplessly in the Durand cup football final in New Delhi. East Bengal won-1-0 lift the trophy for the 11th time.(HT file photo)

There could not have been a more telling statement of the old order changing in the domestic football scene which is now dominated by the ISL and the I-League.“I played in the Santosh Trophy final in 1993, Maharashtra v Kerala. Tickets were sold out a day before and on match day, people were also sitting behind the goalposts,” said Yusuf Ansari, the former Maharashtra and Air India goalie, in Mumbai. It would often be the same for the Rovers Cup, the Durand Cup and the IFA Shield, which comprised the coveted ‘triple crown.’

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Along with others, these tournaments provided entertainment to a country still far away from when world football was the click of a remote away.

Mohun Bagan captain Chuni Goswami (R) receiving the Durand Cup from President of India, Rajendra Prasad, after being declared joint winners alongside arch-rivals East Bengal in 1960. (HT file photo)
Mohun Bagan captain Chuni Goswami (R) receiving the Durand Cup from President of India, Rajendra Prasad, after being declared joint winners alongside arch-rivals East Bengal in 1960. (HT file photo)

“You can revive these tournaments, but who will take part? They took the Bandodkar Gold Trophy to the villages (in Goa) but there was hardly any crowd,” said Armando Colaco who is in Kolkata as Goa’s Santosh Trophy coach.

To that Godfrey Pereira, a twinkle-toed creator with Air India and India, added from Mumbai: “Rovers Cup should be revived and only the top teams should play. There will be no charm if the best players are not playing.”

For Shaji Prabhakaran, president Football Delhi, Renedy Singh, a former international who captained Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, Subrata Dutta, senior vice-president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), and Savio Medeira, AIFF technical director, these competitions can lend a hand to the changing times. And without financial help from the AIFF, they said. There are enough investors willing to support them, said Prabhakaran.

“Our leagues can accommodate 20-30 clubs but India would need more than 500 active clubs to create enough opportunities for players at the local level. Our problem is that we link every tournament with only the big, established clubs,” said Prabhakaran in New Delhi.

One idea is to slot them before the leagues start. “If tournaments like Rovers Cup are organised as pre-season tournaments, ISL, I-League teams can use them to get ready,” said Renedy from Imphal.

Prabhakaran felt the Durand Cup should stay in New Delhi; it may move to Kolkata this season which Dutta too feels is a bad idea but for a different reason. “There are many places in India starved of live football. Even if the Durand is held in Kochi, it will get a good crowd. It will do well in Kashmir too. If they involve North-eastern teams and hold it in Aizawl, there will be a lot of interest,” said Dutta from Silvassa in Gujarat.

“If Rovers Cup is revived, it’s the smaller cities they should concentrate on; Kolhapur would be a great place to hold it,” said Renedy.

The Hyderabad police team that won the Rovers Cup on November 23, 1957, beating Mohammedan Sporting 3-0 in the final in Bombay. (HT file photo)
The Hyderabad police team that won the Rovers Cup on November 23, 1957, beating Mohammedan Sporting 3-0 in the final in Bombay. (HT file photo)

In 2014, a part of the Federation Cup was held in Manjeri in Kerala and the stands were overflowing. If the average attendance in the I-League rose by nearly 60% - from 6500 to 10354 --- a large part of it was due to newbies Neroca FC getting an average of 24,494 per game in Imphal. Prabhakaran and Medeira felt these tournaments could also be used for reserve teams. Seven of the 10 ISL teams have one in the I-League 2nd division. To that Jo Paul Ancheri, perhaps the most versatile footballer India has had in three decades, added that clubs from the region where the tournament is held should be included for local connect.

Looking back
Unlike now, Indian football wasn’t only I-League and Indian Super League even two decades back. Here’s a lowdown of the different tournaments that shaped Indian football over years.
TITLE
DURAND CUP
1888-PRESENT
Held annually by the Indian army, the Durand Cup is Asia’s oldest football tournament. With shrinking space in the domestic calendar, it has lost prominence in recent years.
Most successful team:
MOHUN BAGAN
27 █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
ROVERS CUP
(1891 TO 2000-01)
Once one of India’s most important competitions, it was discontinued after the 2000-01 edition. There have been attempts to revive it since. Bangalore Muslims were the first Indian team to win the competition in 1937.
Most successful team:
MOHUN BAGAN
14 █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
IFA SHIELD
1893-PRESENT
IFA Shield has been held as an under-19 event since 2015. The first Indian team to win the title was Mohun Bagan (1911). Notable clubs to play in the tournament include Penarol, Shakhtar Donetsk, Ararat Yerevan, Pas Club, Bayern Munich reserves, Palmeiras B.
Most successful team:
EAST BENGAL
27 █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
SAIT NAGJEE
1952-1995, REVIVED IN 2016
Held every year in Kozhikode, the Sait Nagjee tournament was discontinued after 1995. It was held again in 2016, with eight foreign teams in it. The fate of the competition, however, remains unclear.
Most successful team:
MOHAMMEDAN
Sporting 4 █ █ █ █ and JCT 4 █ █ █ █
DCM TROPHY
1945-1997
Held in the national capital, the Delhi Cloth Mills Trophy regularly featured top Indian and foreign clubs. Notable clubs from abroad to have played in DCM Trophy include Metalist Kharkiv, Esteghlal, POSCO Atoms (Pohang Steelers).
Most successful team:
EAST BENGAL
7 █ █ █ █ █ █ █
BORDOLOI TROPHY
1952-PRESENT
Bordoloi Trophy, held annually in Guwahati, has suffered from diminishing interest since the late 90s. Notable foreign clubs to take part in it include Navbahor Namangan, Esteghlal, Bangkok Port Authority.
Most successful team:
MOHUN BAGAN
7 █ █ █ █ █ █ █
SCISSORS CUP
1992-1997
Held in Kochi in the mid 90s, Scissors Cup was a popular annual football tournament involving the country’s best football clubs. Notable foreign clubs to play in the tournament include West Riffa Club (Bahrain) and Perlis FA (Malaysia).
INDEPENDENCE CUP
1949-PRESENT
An annual competition held at the Nurul Amin Stadium in Nagaon, Assam, it no longer attracts the country’s biggest clubs, with departmental teams dominating the tournament in recent years. BSF, OIL and Assam Rifles continue to field strong teams.
OTHERS
1949-PRESENT
Nadkarni Cup (Mumbai): 1908-present.
Sikkim Gold Cup (Sikkim): 1986-present.
Bandodkar Gold Trophy (Goa): 1970-1992, revived in 2016.

Another route to staying relevant could be to use them for the youth like the IFA Shield already has by going under-19. “I think the Rovers Cup can be made into an under-20 or under-23 tournament because we need more tournaments for the youth,” said Medeira.

Western India Football Association (WIFA) CEO Henry Menezes said that is how the Rovers Cup could be revived in two-three years.In the 72nd Santosh Trophy, each team must have five under-21 players with three on the pitch making it a platform for talent-spotting. Last year, Bengal’s Manvir Singh scored the matchwinner in the final and was signed by FC Goa.

(With inputs from Bhargab Sarmah in New Delhi, Sarthak Bal and Camilo Fernandes in Mumbai.)

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Dhiman Sarkar is based in Kolkata with over two decades as a sports journalist. He writes mainly on football.

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