INDIA’S SWITZERLAND

As the national football competition returns to the Valley after three decades, Srinagar’s spectators are putting on a no-holds-barred show of support that is much more intriguing to watch than the soccer skills on field. Perhaps they’re making up for lost time. Having spent so long looking at each other in suspicion, they have whole-heartedly embraced the game and given a bear hug to the J&K football team. Posters are plastered all over the city announcing the Santosh Trophy schedule and that’s a welcome change for the region used to notices barking out curfew timings.

Revival underway
Militancy did ensure that sports were deemed extremely insignificant a few years ago, but now, the revival has begun. Jammu and Kashmir Football Association secretary Basheer Ahmed Malik takes an uneasy walk back in the past as he explains the local football scene. “If you look at the 90s, all people thought about, obviously, was making themselves safe. There were curfews in place as early as 4 pm, and it was impossible to think about football at such a time. But in 1995, the football association of the state was revived, from then till now, we have kept it up. Local tournaments have been conducted with great regularity all this time. This Santosh Trophy has ensured there are positive signals reaching out to everybody, and the bad impressions will hopefully no longer be there,” he says.
Football as balm for mental scars might seem too simple a solution for a complex problem, but it has certainly worked as a healthy divergent. Previously frowned upon as a mere frivolity, it no longer invites ridicule or outright rejection. These days even young girls in the Valley are busy ‘bending it like Beckham’ as they religiously turn up at training camps organised in all seriousness.

Home improvement
The requirements for the growth of football are much more, but there have been a few positive signals in the past week. The biggest of them all is J&K’s win over Delhi and their entry into the quarter-finals. Though, this too comes with a rider. There are whispers that J&K is a ‘one-man team’.
That MVP is Ishfaq Ahmed, the only one with international experience. Ahmed says his game would not have reached the level it is now had he stayed on here and played in the J&K local league. “I was fortunate to be noticed and signed on by bigger clubs in India; I would not have made progress had I kept playing here. Football has been here for some time, but it is growing only now. It will take time,” he says.
Like most kids in the Valley, the Mohun Bagan striker too began his sporting career as an opening batsman-wicketkeeper, but switched to the beautiful game soon after he got ‘bored’ with cricket. Ahmed decided to take up serious football and ended up as a goal-poaching striker. But the striker never imagined that one day he would be playing Santosh Trophy at home and a vociferous crowd cheering him on.
“People come out to watch us play. In the early stages of the tournament, there were no expectations from our team, but now that we have made the quarters, they want us to go further. The win over Delhi was huge, and it’s a great feeling,” says Ahmed after returning from his afternoon prayers. His hotel room, he says, is never occupied because he prefers to spend some rare time with his family. With the experience of knowing national football closely, Ahmed explains the problems that the locals face. “The All India Football Federation says it has been really tough to focus on J&K since there are so many issues in the region. It’s me and Mehrajuddin Wadoo who’ve managed to make it. He’s a childhood friend of mine, our stories are nearly the same, and I hope he gets a regular spot in the Indian team soon,” says Ahmed.

Grassroot worries
Like Ahmed there are many in Srinagar who hope that the Santosh Trophy will inspire many youngsters to dream of wearing national colours. But there are hurdles on the way. Malik explains: “We, as an association, are not financially sound, but we have been conducting camps to help youngsters. The grassroot level and the school level is where everything should begin, though, and we still have lots to do there.
“The Sports Authority of India has opened academies in different states across India, and if they were to open one here, it would be of great help.”
Not everyone in the Valley, though, endorses the football fraternity’s optimism. Some find it hard to get used to the shift in mass mindset, and prefer to plod along the only path they know. Munna, a taxi driver, is clear about the fact that he will not let his daughters play football ever, or perhaps any sport, and even the success of the Santosh Trophy team hasn’t impressed him.
“We don’t believe in all this. Our culture does not allow it. I go to watch the Santosh Trophy sometimes, but where is the time, there is so much to do. For so long, militancy has affected our lives, and it’s only now that a little bit of freedom has been granted to us. Earlier, the curfew timings meant we couldn’t move out after 4 pm, so where was the chance to think about sports?” he says.
These stray voices are drowned as one reaches the Bakshi Stadium, one of the venues of the Santosh Trophy, where even a failed pass from defence to midfield is applauded. The excited voices from the stands tell the player to get it right the next time. Hope floats across the stadium. The Stadium has faced a few bomb hoaxes during the course of the competition but that hasn’t affected the attendance. Perhaps they have become so used to living under the shadow of violence that they have come to accept it as part of life. Such scares can’t knock them off their chosen football path right now.
One gets this feeling listening to J&K’s footballing poster boy Ahmed. Ask him for a reaction on national coach Bob Houghton’s views that the Santosh Trophy should be scrapped as it was ‘an antiquated tournament’ and he makes a face. “He’s mad,” says Ahmed. “They think we have infrastructure like England, he doesn’t understand.”