At Rs 300 per game, life’s no ball

Far from million dollar dreams, all these youngsters are looking for is a job that pays a few thousand and a source of sustenance for their family. But even this is usually hard to come by.

Anukul Jana is said to be the best goalkeeper in town. A migrant from West Bengal who represented his home state in under-16 tournaments, Anukul came to play football for the Imaculate Group in 1996 and stayed back as they offered him “good money”. But after the group shut down a couple of years ago, it has been a battle for survival for this 24-year-old who plays as a guest player in the Reserve Bank of India team now.

“My family is very poor and I have to do something to survive. The RBI pays Rs 300 per match and also takes care of the kit and any minor injuries that I suffer. I am scared to shift base as I dread losing what little I have,” said Anukul.

Another RBI guest player, 21-year-old Anil Dugar, is a first year student of MS University in Vadodara. Son of a farmer, Anil was a trainee of SAI, Gandhinagar when he got a call to attend the national under-19 camp in Patiala in 1997. He failed to qualify for the team that went to Jakarta and since then, it’s been an uphill battle.

Anil’s teammate Vivek Rao, also a BCom graduate, shares the same dream. “My parents don’t approve me playing football and want me to take up a job. But I am not a very brilliant student. Football is all I am good at so I am also pinning all my hopes on it,” says Vivek, who gets Rs 200 for every game he plays along with travelling expenses.

“Accommodation means rooming with some teammates who are bachelors,” explains Anil. Both Anil and Vivek take heart from what Rajesh and Dasarath, both of whom are RBI employees, have achieved. A good striker, Rajesh is matric pass and sits at the cash counter while defender Dasarath is a Class IV worker who quit studies after Std VIII.

The manager of the RBI team Vijay Kutchi, a football recruit himself in the early eighties, said: “We don’t promise them jobs as we can’t deliver. All recuritment has been stopped after 1998. All we can assure them is a fair deal if any vacancies occur.”

A U K Nair, the office secretary of ADFA, summed it up: “CV Sashi was the first footballer from Gujarat to have represented the country. He played in the Asian Cup in Lebanon and also represented India in the SAARC and SAF Games in 1994. Even he couldn’t find a job here and now works as a circle inspector of police in Kerala. Do the rest stand a chance?”