Pailan Arrows – A brave experiment in Indian football

Football academies, in joint venture with corporate houses, have come and gone. Through them, talents have bloomed and died a natural death over the years. Yet we don’t give up. Kaushik Saha profiles AIFF’s new baby and hands out a few tips on how the greenhorn can ensure a sustainable model to nurture talent.

Several articles have been written on the slow and steady demise of Indian football and I myself have spoken and written about lack of big money and sponsors  and the apathy they have shown to the Beautiful Game. A recent case in point is that of a big Industry house inIndiashutting down its football team. Their MD tweeted that he will make sure the money is used for “promotion of sports”, which then turned out to be sponsoring a cricket league in a neighbouring country.

It is in the backdrop of this that I will write about the experimental baby of Indian football – the AIFF XI which was renamed Indian Arrows, and finally, under the aegis of the Pailan Group called Pailan Arrows. The word “sports talent hunt” can mean many things inIndia, though in the past 30 years it has been associated with cricket mostly, thanks to effort of a few individuals. It has been extended to Olympic sports like boxing, wrestling and badminton, with good results. But in football – it has been sporadic –TataFootballAcademytook more steps backward than it took forward, as most of the “future talent” seemed interested in securing themselves a job with the Tatas than taking up football as profession.

In 2010, the then Indian football coach Bob Houghton noticed that most of Under-19 and Under 22 footballers of the national squad were warming the benches in the clubs, while foreigners (mostly big bodied Africans) dominated the scene. The clubs did not have a sense of duty towards their country, in some cases (as shown by recent incidents), not even to their spectators. Their aim was to win tournaments, not develop talent. The few development academies some of these clubs run (one, run by a certain “National Club” in my hometown is a sham of the highest order, where mostly those who can afford the high fees make it), were found to be inadequate. With this in mind, AIFF XI was founded on recommendations of Bob Houghton, the then manager of Indian football team, and AIFF President Praful Patel, with the intention of qualifying for the football world cups in Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022).

They were supposed to have debuted in Tier2 of the Indian National League, but as the aforementioned “Corporate Club” was disbanded, they made it to the top tier. They finished in the bottom 2, but were not relegated as the entire purpose of their existence was to make them keep playing with the top teams.  Sukhwinder Singh, the former (and moderately successful) coach of the national team was the coach initially, but he was sacked after the team’s dismal performance. Finally, after a few experiments, Australian Arthur Papas was made the coach.

Considering they play in the national colours and are sponsored by the Pailan Group fromBengal, the team changed their name and shifted base to Kolkata. This shifting has done a world of good to the team. First, they can play their home matches at theSaltLakestadium, which is one of the better football stadiums in the country. Secondly, they have developed a significant supporter base from the Kolkata crowd who are one of the most passionate followers of the sport in the country.

Will the experiment work?

Let’s analyse it from three perspectives:

(1)    Football Clubs owned by Corporate houses – They fall into three categories themselves – first the Salgaocar-Churchill Brothers- Dempo  type of football clubs – owned by business houses or families which cannot be termed as Corporate houses in the strictest meaning of the term. These organizations are largely family-owned, and it percolates down to the football team as well, whose management, team and coach selection etc depend to an extent upon the whims and fancies of the “families”. But this also has an advantage. Most of the players who play here know they won’t land up jobs with the “families”, hence the set up is more game-oriented where the primary focus is football.

The second type of clubs owned by Corporate houses are Mahindra United – JCT as part of their CSR drive (both not in existence incidentally) – here sports is much more organized, there are teams within the organization which ensure the sports ventures go on unhindered, selection of players and coaches are taken in board meetings and the set up is more professional. But there is also the risk that the Corporate house may feel they no longer want to invest in football, might want to move into Olympic sports or shut the sports division altogether to manage top-lines. Also, the risk remains that footballers may view these as means to land up a job in the organization, and once they get in, lose interest and the hunger to do well in the sport.

The third type of corporate house-fotball club tie-up is in organizations like ONGC and HAL who have sports teams, just like another division in the company. Here, there are a few outsiders, but the core group of players and officials come from inside the organization. Unlike in the first two types, here there are no insecurities as as players already have a job and management of the sports teams is separate. But here youngsters with potential do not find a place unless they are capable enough to be employees of the organization in some capacity, and that leaves out a significant portion of football talent.

Pailan Arrows falls in the second category as far as this classification is concerned, but they are slightly different in the sense that they are backed by AIFF and hence do not face risk of being dissolved. Not falling in category one means they are more professionally managed and not falling in category three means they do not leave out talented but unemployable youngsters. But it is also to be noted that the first category of teams has historically done well – the reason is not difficult to fathom – by keeping interference from the “organization” separate, and having quick decision-makers means there is no red tape as far as taking strong and quick decisions are concerned. Here the AIFF will have to be careful. They should ensure minimum red tape, be professional, streamline management, and bring in the funds.

(2)    Developmental academies owned by Corporates: The Tata Group owned a football academy called Tata Football Academy (TFA) which turned out to be a not-so-successful experiment. They had the right talent spotters who got in good players from across the country and trained them well, and earned the sobriquet of being the “Nursery of Indian football”. However, once the players impressed here, they were netted by the big clubs with the lure of decent money and in the club vs. country debate, the country lost out.

Here AIFF will have to be careful. They have to have a good mentorship team besides the regular coaching team who would counsel the players, keep their focus in tact and instill in them the pride of playing for the country. There will still be a few defections, but the core group of talent can be preserved.

(3)    Developmental academies run professionally: This does not necessarily mean football. Olympic Gold Quest is an organization run by former stars from different sports who identify talent in Olympic sports from a very early age and enroll them, taking care of their education, coaching and other mental and physical well being. This has started to show results with players from Badminton and athletics who have been doing well in various national and international events. The team here is extremely professional, have degrees in sports management, sports medicine etc, and this, besides the good results have ensured good sponsorships as well. Besides OGQ, boxing, wrestling and hockey also have small pockets of good trainers – some former Olympians themselves. They have helped to develop talent in these sports.

AIFF, presided by a former cabinet minister, is not short of sponsor-pulling power. They just have to get the right people in the mix and ensure similar talent spotting and development happens here in football as well. As of now, AIFF is not the most well-managed body. Charges of nepotism, red-tapism and corruption are rampant, and this is indeed a cause for worry.

It has to be kept in mind Pailan Arrows cannot produce overnight results. There will be lucrative offers from bigger clubs or the players might not come from well-to-do families. In their initial years, they will win few, lose a lot more. But the key will be to keep a wise on the young shoulders and create an impact.

An Eye on I-League : The Ball gets Rolling

With the top division football league in India commencing this month, intriguing battles await the coming weeks. Debojyoti Chakraborty tracks down the proceedings in the I-League through a monthly review series. Here is the first instalment

The national football league of India, popularly known as the I-League, kick-started on October 6, 2012 with a new sense of expectation. Much like the football revolution taking place in England, a lesser known club – Prayag United, who have not won anything significant till date in their short history – have been making the news by building a strong team, with a string of high-profile signings, to compete in this year’s edition. With the usual favourites, Dempo and some strong contenders like East Bengal, Churchill Brothers and Salgaocar already in the fray, this will surely light up the scene in coming months.

There was no shortage of goals in the first round of matches. Only East Bengal and Sporting Clube de Goa drew blanks. Other than that, each match saw at least two goals with Prayag United’s 5-1 hammering of Air India topping the charts. Prayag United is the team to watch out for this season as they have splashed out cash (with a bit of Middle-East / Russian influence!) and their star man Ranti Martins, captured from Goa, did not disappoint as he started the campaign with a hat-trick. This win was even more impressive considering they had to play with ten men for 70 minutes after their influential centre-half, Bello Rasaq got sent off.

Similarly impressive were United Sikkim, brainchild of the iconic Indian forward Baichung Bhutia, who twice came back from behind to beat Salgaocar in a 3-2 thriller. Pailan Arrows, the U-19 team put up by the AIFF, showed similar fighting spirit to defeat Mumbai FC by the same scoreline.  ONGC, another lowly football club in the competition, too put up a brave face but lost 2-3 to Pune FC.

There was no such fight seen in the match against Shillong Lajong where Mohun Bagan lost 0-2. After the much hyped pairing of Odafa Okolie and Tolgay Özbey misfired there was not much left in the team to draw inspiration from. Elsewhere, Dempo had the final say in a 2-1 local derby win over Churchill Brothers.

Dempo showed why they are the best club in India for the last few years with a 5-0 thrashing of local rivals Sporting Clube de Goa. Churchill Brothers also kept up the pace by beating ONGC with similar margins. Another title contender, East Bengal, had to rely on a deflected free kick to win by 1-0 against United Sikkim.

Prayag United kept up their good show and in the process brought in more misery for Mohun Bagan with a 2-1 win. This result saw the Kolkata giants with no points from two matches and brought in the first casualty of the season in the form of coach Santosh Kashyap.

Elsewhere, Pailan Arrows kept on surprising people with their back-to-back win, this time against Mumbai FC while Pune FC kept up their pace with another win against Mumbai FC. Shillong Lajong were able to hold on to a 1-1 draw against Salgaocar, thus keeping the Goan club in the bottom half of the table.

So, after two rounds of matches, we have seen 50 goals at an average of more than 3.5 per game and already one of the coaches have been shown the exit door. Kashyap is not going to be the last man sacked this season, one may feel. Dempo sit pretty at the top of the table with team of the season, Prayag United. Joining them are the steady Pune FC and minnows Pailan Arrows, who have won two matches – same number of wins they could manage in the entire last season. Mumbai FC, Mohun Bagan, Air India and ONGC are all looking to open their accounts while Sporting Clube de Goa will be the last team this season to score a goal. But these are early days and we are sure more surprises and drama will be unfolded before we draw the curtains.

A flurry of goals speaks volumes of the foreign players’ – mainly forwards and advanced playmakers – influence in the I-League. So it is not surprising to see two foreigners with one hat-trick apiece already under their belt forming the partnership up front in our team of the month – Ranti Martins (Prayag United) and Akram Moghrabi (Churchill Brothers). The linkman would be Carlos Hernández who has already mesmerized everyone with his passing and free kick taking skills during his short stint with Prayag United. Beto from Churchill Brothers will give him able company in the middle of park who himself is another superb dead ball specialist. Clifford Miranda of Dempo will occupy the left side of the midfield by virtue of his brace against Sporting Clube de Goa. The last place in the midfield goes to the youngster from Pailan Arrows, Milan Singh Ongnam. Subhasish Roy Chowdhury from Dempo has looked very much assured under the bars and he takes the keeper’s spot. East Bengal is the only team with a clean sheet so far and much of that credit should go to centre-half Uga Okpara. He is partnered by Bilal Sheikh El Najarin from Churchill Brothers who has been strong in defence as well as scored one against ONGC. They are flanked by Sukhen Dey of Prayag United by virtue of his fine defensive display, especially against Mohun Bagan and Khangembam Jeevan Singh from Lajong FC.

Team of the month: Subhasish Roy Chowdhury (Dempo); Sukhen Dey (Prayag United), Uga Okpara (East Bengal), Bilal Sheikh El Najarin (Churchill Brothers), Khangembam Jeevan Singh (Lajong FC); Milan Singh Ongnam (Pailan Arrows), Beto (Churchill Brothers), Carlos Hernández (Prayag United), Clifford Miranda (Dempo); Ranti Martins (Prayag United), Akram Moghrabi (Churchill Brothers).

Indian National League (I-League) 2011-12 Season Review

With the Indian domestic football season having come to a close in May, Debojyoti Chakraborty summarizes the nation’s top-tier football league

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At the start of the league in the fag end of October last year, the big boys grabbed all the headlines. Two clubs from Kolkata, the eternal capital of the game in India, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan were favourites along with the two teams from Goa, the new power centre of Indian football, Dempo and Churchill Brothers. Dempo set the pace early with an all-win record in their first seven matches which included a 5-0 thrashing of Mohun Bagan. They were first beaten by another club from Goa – Churchill Brothers who put up some fine performances – they defeated Shillong Lajong FC 6-0 and Sporting Club de Goa 5-0 – but lacked consistency. On the other hand, East Bengal looked to follow the leaders closely until they were held to a scoreless draw by the lowly Pailan Arrows. This started a patchy stage for the men in Red and Gold as they could only manage four victories in their next 10 encounters. Their archrival Mohun Bagan had a roller coaster ride. After being humiliated by Dempo they themselves netted five against Mumbai FC in an away match. They defeated title contenders East Bengal and Churchill and followed that up by dropping points against mid-tabler Prayag United and struggling Shillong Lajong FC.

As the second half of the fixtures started, teams settled down rather well. Teams vying for the championship got the results they wanted as the relatively smaller teams started to run out of gas. But there was too much of a gap at the top created by now and Dempo maintained the pole position throughout the second half with their superb squad. They are an example of a settled side, the team management and to officials have been there for some time now and their core group of players have remained more or less the same too. This is so rare in this part of the world, but manager Armando Colaco might have to say something to this as he went on to win a record five League titles with Dempo. There was a small hiccup when they lost to Pune FC in Round 19 but Dempo ensured neither of their competitors can get a sniff in by quickly regaining the composure.

By the time Dempo faced East Bengal in Round 23, other contenders had already faded away. Dempo maintained their 6-point gap over the Red and Gold brigade with a scoreless draw and were almost certain of the title with only three matches to play. Results elsewhere became meaningless even though Mohun Bagan thrashed Shillong Lajong FC 6-1 in the return leg and Sporting Clube de Goa thumped HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Sporting Club) 7-0.

The league was a classic example of a bunch of teams fighting it out. There was not much difference between them as all the top half teams lost nearly equal number of matches (5 or 6). What set Dempo apart is their incredible ability to get a result when the game was all set for a draw. They could not enforce a result in only three of their matches – this number is twice better than any of their challengers. On the other end of the table Pailan Arrows and HAL were easy hunting grounds for others as both the teams struggled to get a win under their belt. HAL was nothing more than a punching bag as they finished rock bottom with eight points in 26 games and a negative goal difference of 49. Pailan Arrows, the U-19 team fielded by All India Football Federation (AIFF), is probably the only team across all the domestic leagues worldwide to be guaranteed a stay in the top flight irrespective of their league standing. So, even though they finished 13^th, they stayed up and poor Chirag United Kerala, finishing 12^th, was relegated.

The league produced over 500 goals, close to an impressive average of three goals per match. But with the modern era icon Baichung Bhutia in the twilights of his career and no other players showing that much promise, the top goal-scoring chart was dominated by the foreign recruits. In I-League a team can field four foreign players which should include one player from the AFC region. There is a strong influence of Africa in Indian football as they are the main supply line for foreign players. Ranti Martins from Nigeria topped the charts with 32 goals playing for Dempo. Following him was his country man Odafa Okolie of Mohun Bagan with 26 goals. Tolgey Ozbey from Australia netted 18 for East Bengal to finish third. C.S. Sabeeth of Pailan Arrows was the top Indian goal scorer with only nine goals who could feature even in the overall top 10 list.

On the other end of the field, Indian shot stoppers put up a decent fight and Pune FC goalkeeper Abhra Mondal, who was let go by East Bengal, emerged as the top performer in the absence of their star man, India number one Subrata Paul. Uga Okapara from Nigeria of East Bengal and Mahesh Gowli of Dempo put up some brave displays at the heart of their teams’ defence. And in the midfield area, the honour goes to Pierre Douhou from Ivory Coast of Pune FC.

The I-league has grown in numbers over the years – be it in terms of number of teams participating or the money spent by the sponsors. But the standard of football very rarely lives up to expectations. Still in this millennium, some players have started showing their aspirations for trying their luck abroad in more prestigious European leagues. Most recent of them all is the current national team captain Sunil Chhetri who has been roped in by Sporting Clube de Portugal. This will only help the Sleeping Giant of Asia to come into its own in the football world.