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‘Unless we look into the mirror and accept reality, Indian football will not progress'

‘Unless we look into the mirror and accept reality, Indian football will not progress'

Time of India17 hours ago
Ravi Puskur
took everyone by surprise when he chose to expose the 'rotten system' within Indian football, where everything moves, in his own words, on influence, favours, and fragile egos. In a free-wheeling chat with
Team TOI
, the CEO of
FC Goa
discusses the ills plaguing the sport in India, the way forward for the beautiful game, the measures that his club has taken to stem the rot and why there's still hope. Excerpts from
Townhall With TOI
Given the poor results of the national team and uncertainty surrounding the future of the Indian Super League, how would you describe the Indian football situation at the moment?
Indian football is in a very uncomfortable situation. The (international) results are not going our way, ranking has dropped, clubs are bleeding, and the top division of the country not starting on time is obviously never good news.
It comes down to the general governance of how the league would run, how that would then correlate with what the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has in mind, what the clubs have in mind. It's about bringing together the best part of at least a hundred stakeholders in the ecosystem, who essentially are responsible for the money that is invested in Indian football. That's never an easy task because everybody has an agenda of their own, everybody has a thought process of their own, and to bring it all together in such a short span of time, I think is the greatest challenge.
Where did it all go wrong for Indian football?
So where did it all go wrong for Indian football? Was there any trigger?
The rot has been there for a while and nobody attempted to stop it. Everybody who is in the stakeholding ecosystem of Indian football is equally complicit. Nobody put their hand up and acknowledged there's a problem, nobody addressed it. We all know there's a problem. There is a financial ecosystem that is not making a lot of sense. Everyone is haemorrhaging money.
The ecosystem has failed through time and the problems compounded themselves.
Given what you said, and what you see, do you think Indian football needs a reset at the moment?
It's clear that we need to do things differently. In the last 10-12 years, the estimated investment is around Rs 5,000 crores, a significant amount of money, but what is the end product? Have we progressed? How many players that are currently playing, who have had 10 years of professional football at their disposal, would go toe-to-toe with their South American or even Asian counterpart? The answer, to be entirely honest, is maybe one or two at best.
Everybody else would have a tough time, and that is very visible when the national team competes against others. The speed of thought, the speed of action in a technical capability is not even 15% or 20 % of what the rest of the players are playing at a global level.
Is it the mentality that is holding back Indian football or is it the failure of the entire ecosystem?
We don't have a sporting culture quite like other countries.
In India, sport is not promoted as much as it could be in the ecosystem of education that we have currently right now. It is just a spot filler in the timetable. If ever there is a sacrifice that is required, normally it is the sporting time which is sacrificed to ensure that other co-curricular activities or traditional subjects are fitted in. We have also not mentalised ourselves where we've learned to compete from a very young age, understanding what it is to be a teammate, the camaraderie that comes with it, what it takes to overcome challenges, suffer setbacks.
I think all of that is not something that is inherently built within us. Even right now, Indian football is essentially walking on a limb.
What's the need of the hour?
We need dialogues, reflections, and an open mind, ready for changes. We need to address the challenges. Because until that happens and people decide to stick a mirror to themselves and say, OK, this is the reality, and this is the part I have to play, the system will spit and chew out a thousand Manolos, but it will not move much further than where it is right now.
Rising salaries of domestic players in Indian football
The big elephant in the room is sustainability and the rising player salaries. Do you believe Indian footballers are overpaid, and if yes, how do you control this from a club point of view?
My answer is not going to make me very popular with Indian footballers, but yes, without a question of a doubt, the players are overpaid. If there's one thing that needs to be corrected first, it is the salaries. The money that is being paid is not something that would see equivalent value in terms of performance. If I pay the same amount of money to any player who does not hold an Indian passport, the quality I would get will be 10 times better.
The reason we are limited is because we are all stuck in this concept of cheap thrills, where we want to win the league year after year, no matter the cost. Football is not easy to manage but it's not rocket science either. There are minds who do a lot more greater things in life than just put together a team and win. If we can do it with a budget of Rs 40 crore, instead of Rs 50 crore, the Rs 10 crore that you have saved can possibly train 10,000 kids for five years.
We need sensible decisions.
FC Goa is taking corrective measures
Since your public criticism of the system, what corrective measures have you introduced at FC Goa, specifically about player salaries?
We have stopped running this rat race of trying to outbid each other. As a club, we are not entering a bidding war. We will see value, and if there is a player who we feel is demanding a salary which is far above what we think we should be paying, we will step back.
We will have to bring in more players through our youth system, because we do run a development program, and if you are not giving them a platform, then what good is that? We also want to dedicate a lot more of our time focusing on our youth players now rather than the first team.
This might sound like we are taking a step back, but if you look around, there are two things that are fundamental for success in ISL. One, you need a good coach, who can organise the team. Two, you need a good set of foreigners. If you supplement them with Indian players who are half decent, I think you will have a good season.
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