Kerala football news

Teenage Footballers Suffer In AIFF’s Sub Junior Nationals

The south-west qualifier of the sub-junior tournament which is hosted by Maharashtra under the supervision of Western India Football Association (WIFA) and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has turned out to be a nightmare for the participating states.

The U-14 boys were ill treated and the facilities provided were less than satisfactory if not shambolic. If this wasn’t enough, the venue of the games has been shifted twice already in a matter of four days from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) grounds to Cooperage to the Air India ground! Add to that the age old issue of overage players being fielded!

“We had panned the event in this manner with regards to the venues. Also SAI had to put up with Commonwealth preparations with boxing teams coming there. We told the teams that they have to be satisfied with what the local organiser provides or else take the Rs.200 granted for every boy per day and stay elsewhere,” informed WIFA assistant secretary, Wali Mohammed.

Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu, and Goa and Kerala were put up together with only two toilets being provided of which one was insanitary.

“It was like 60 boys in one hall and just a single toilet which was also used by the boys at SAI. Many of the boys didn’t have shower for the last few days owing to this. There were no fans for us,” said Goa coach Seby Noronha.

Amongst all the teams, the worse treatment was meted out to Goa and Gujarat who played a game on Wednesday and thereafter were informed that their place of residence would be shifted. The two teams were advised to be ready by 20.00 IST as a bus would be come to pick them up. This was after travelling for more than three hours to and fro from Kandivali to Cooperage for their scheduled match.

The teams had to wait longer than Vladimir and Estragon from Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting For Godot’ as the transport arrived only after four hours!

“The milk vans came and we were dumped in there with our luggage. We reached Bombay Hockey Association (BHA) at 3 am on Thursday and they had no clue of our arrival!” added Noronha.

Since the matches have been shifted to Air India ground, the teams would have to travel for more than an hour. Goa were made to stay at the Cooperage dressing room the night they arrived in Mumbai.

“No one came to receive us and after we came to the Cooperage by private cabs; the security put us up in the dressing room which wasn’t in the best condition. There were no mattresses, bedsheets or even beds!” said Noronha.

If this is the treatment given to the youngsters who hope to make it big in the world of Indian football, we can be assured that the future looks bleak.

“We are talking so much about grassroots and they are frightening the boys with such treatment. We have boys coming from respectable families and their mind will change after this horrendous experience.

“The intelligent boys will leave the sport and you have the leftovers with you. Football is an intelligent game where you need to have a great presence of mind. Do you think any sane parent would ever send their kids to play football?

“Football has no future in India if this continues,” said Noronha.

Rahul Bali.
Goal.com