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Journalism of Courage
The Santosh Trophy. Once the showpiece of Indian football, a laurel to die for, the championship seems to be waddling year-on-year in search of its nadir. Currently in its sixty-first year, the meet is yet another glitz-less show.
The future is bleak, to be modest. To the extent that one wonders whether the current tournament, in the twin cities of Faridabad and Gurgaon in Haryana, is relevant any more.
Let8217;s hear it from those in the know.
8220;The biggest achievement of my sporting career is that I got an opportunity to represent my state in the Santosh Trophy.8221;
8220;Santosh Trophy is more of a compulsion than choice for us. Left to me, I would not want to play here.8221;
8220;The skill quotient of the meet has dipped drastically, it needs a total rethink.8221;
Three very different statements from players representing different eras. The first comes from, a septuagenarian, Kewal Kaushik, a state player from the glory days. The next from a current national-level player who prefers not to disclose his identity. And the third from Prasanta Banerjee, one of the best medios the country has ever produced.
Such thoughts make it apparent how Indian football has traversed the years. Kaushik belongs to the era 1950-60 when India was a force to reckon with in Asia. The second plays today, in a national team struggling to keep a straight face, and the third a stalwart of the late Seventies and Eighties.
Then, there is this interesting version. Former Punjab and India player and also former national coach Sukhwinder Singh believes the Santosh Trophy has always been reflective of the standard of Indian football. 8220;During our time, the Santosh Trophy was the tournament everyone wanted to win and the champion state used to throw up players who competed at the Asian level. You can imagine the kind of competition there was to get into the squad. We used to have month-long camps ahead of the tournament,8221; says Singh.
Today the All India Football Federation AIFF manages to fix the venue barely a month before the tournament begins. States have to struggle to arrange their 20 players, because the clubs delay their release. AIFF rules say a club needs to release state players at least five days before that particular team8217;s match. That means the national body believes five days are enough for preparation. Even then clubs and players blatantly violate the rules.
Mohun Bagan8217;s Mehrajuddin Wadoo was a case in point this year. The club recalled the Jammu and Kashmir skipper for its vital Kolkata league engagement with East Bengal, a day ahead of his state8217;s crucial league match against Orissa. The club won, the state was knocked out before the knockouts.
Manipur, one of the best teams in the country and champions in 2002-03, never had a camp in the run up to the 2006 edition of the tournament. Results were predictable -out of the meet in the first round itself: By no means an indication of how good or bad the other teams are. It just reflects the disdain players have for turning out for their state team.
But what led to the present state? Says Sukhwinder: 8220;Its importance has gone down ever since the Federation Cup and the National Football League came into the picture. Once the clash of interest between clubs and states surfaced, the writing on the wall was clear.8221;
Yet, it cannot be players alone who are responsible for the state of affairs today? Prasanta, now the Bengal coach, says: 8220;First of all, the AIFF got the timing wrong. The schedule of this tournament clashes with the state leagues in two major hubs of Indian football 8212; Bengal and Goa. Most clubs in the country belong to these two places and of course they will have problems in releasing players for state duty. After all, they are the ones who pay.8221;
Some even blame the governing body of neglecting the tournament. 8220;You have to see the accommodation provided to the players in the current edition. Five to six players are made to stay in one room. The quality of food is deplorable. Why would a player want to come here?8221; asks the coach of a participating state team.
8220;If the apex body wants a top quality meet they should have made sure that these organisational hiccups don8217;t come in,8221; he added.
But, as usual, the AIFF maintains the facilities are better than ever before. 8220;We are providing accommodation and food, and if the players don8217;t like them we have provision for a daily allowance of Rs 350 so that they can make their own arrangements,8221; says Alberto Colaco, secretary, AIFF.
But of course, the Jammu and Kashmir team opted to arrange for their own accommodation and ended up running helter-skelter searching for rooms on the eve of their opening match. And they were not the only unsatisfied team. But that does not seem to bother AIFF. 8216;Take it or leave it8217; is more like it.
Some, however, remain optimistic. 8220;The Santosh Trophy is still the only platform to identify untapped talent. There can be no better avenue for fresh faces to show their worth,8221; says Matthew D8217;costa, assistant coach of Salgaocar football club. D8217;costa was in Gurgaon to spot some new faces for his club.
Raman Vijayan, a former India team striker and a lynchpin in the Bengal team 1996-1999, believes the tournament is still very relevant and can act as a catalyst in the renaissance of football. 8220;If you leave aside the established names, Santosh Trophy is one tournament that every players waits for through out the year. This is a platform open to all. With some extra flow of funds this tournament can be the biggest sourcing ground for quality players,8221; says Vijayan.
Three inferences emerge: Either make changes to return the Santosh Trophy to its old glory, or make it a platform for talent-spotting, hence for juniors, or give it a quiet, decent burial. The politically correct answer is easy to guess, though.
THE LEGEND OF HISTORY
The genesis of the Santosh Trophy goes back to 1941 when the Indian Football Association IFA, the parent body of Bengal football, donated the trophy in the memory of the late Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhury of Santosh now in Bangladesh. Chowdhury was the president of the IFA for a long time.
Kamla Gupta Trophy, presented to the runners-up in the tournament, was donated by late Dr. S.K. Gupta, ex-president, IFA in the memory of his wife.
