🕊 Longevity Issues
The relentless IPL calendar, the AIFF mess & the FIFA documentary on Kerala
The BwC Season 7 finale with Sanju Samson is now streaming worldwide. Come for his story about the first time he batted with Rahul Dravid, stay for his infectious laughter!
A new low for Indian Football and the AIFF
Indian football finds itself in complete disarray. While fans have been decrying the state the sport finds itself in for years, the central government too has now taken notice of the decline. Last week The Indian Express reported that the AIFF’s funding has been cut by 85% across the past four years. The federation requested Rs. 50 Cr this year but had to settle for Rs. 5 CR. To contextualise that; equestrian and yachting have been allocated more funds than football.
So what led to such a drastic cut in finances?
Poor Performances
In 2018, the men’s team ranked 97th in the world. It was the first time since the introduction of FIFA’s ranking system that India cracked the top 100. It’s all been downhill since. They had slipped down nine places by the following year and are currently ranked 108th in the world.
They were unable to beat minnows like Bangladesh (188th rank) and Afghanistan (150th rank) in the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup joint qualifying tournament. In the 2021 SAFF Championship, they were only able to manage draws against Sri Lanka (205th rank) and Bangladesh.
It doesn’t help that teams who were once in the same boat as India have surged so far ahead. Vietnam, who in 2018 were ranked below India, made it to the 3rd round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, where they even registered a historic win over China. War torn Syria was 4 games away from qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Women’s Football Stagnating
The lack of structure in the women’s game was cited as another reason for the funding being slashed. The hodge-podge nature of the Indian Women’s League characterises this lack of structure. An ad-hoc qualification process, repeated postponements, short durations and lack of spending cap just scratch the surface of the issues the league is plagued by.
The AIFF made it mandatory for all I-League and ISL clubs to have a women’s side. Additionally, they also insisted that all clubs provide contracts to players. Obviously, neither of these rules have been enforced.
Then of course, there’s the debacle of the AFC Asia Cup in January, where India was disqualified from the tournament it was hosting owing to a bio-bubble breach. Due to no fault of their own, the Tigresses were robbed of the opportunity to compete in Asia’s premiere women’s tournament.
“The government spent considerable amount of taxpayers’ money for preparations of the women’s team and the Asian championships. As a federation, we failed completely as the bio-bubble in our team hotel was breached. Nobody was held responsible for this serious offence and we made naive attempts to blame the Asian body,” said an apoplectic AIFF member.
AIFF Bureaucracy
While this wasn’t directly mentioned as a factor in the government meeting, the role of AIFF’s bureaucracy in the matter goes without saying. In fact, The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sport told the Supreme Court earlier this month that AIFF Head Praful Patel and his committee should no longer hold their offices.
Each committee is permitted three terms and Patel’s third term was supposed to come to an end in December 2020. But using a loophole in the system, he’s repeatedly put off elections and now finds himself ensnared in a power struggle. It could prove to be a long drawn out affair in which ultimately football’s loss is guaranteed.
Is anyone else overwhelmed by the IPL?
In a conversation hosted by Twitter Marketing ahead of this season, Harsha Bhogle said the thing he was most looking forward to ahead of the upcoming season was how the expanded season would play out. He was keen to know whether interest in the season would sustain across the 70 games.
“Is there fatigue or will it be Dil Maange More?”, he said.
We’ve found ourselves trying to answer this question as we move into the 2nd half of the season and frankly, we can’t pick between the two. We aren’t sick of the cricket but neither are we as invested in the league as we were a few weeks ago. It’s just overwhelming, more than anything.
The IPL news cycle moves at breakneck speed. Forget the scores, how does one keep up with all the storylines?
You’re watching Jos Butler become the best T20 batter in the world and wondering if he’ll break Virat’s 2016 scoring record. But then you start thinking of Virat who’s struggling to put bat to ball and has already got two golden ducks in the IPL. Will he ever be the same again?
Every couple of weeks, there’s a new comeback story to be inspired by - it was Umesh Yadav at the start, then Kuldeep, then DK and now it’s Krunal Pandya. While we’re on Krunal, how about his brother huh? Can we just take a moment to process that one of the lesser fancied teams ahead of the season has lost only one game?
On the topic of Indian all-rounder captains, we need to talk about Ravindra Jadeja. Once a paragon of stability, CSK now look like such an unstable outfit. But does Dhoni’s return mean they are back in the hunt for a playoff spot?
Which young player is the current flavour of the season? It was Badoni (remember him?) at the start, Tilak Varma came along after him, then Umran had us fawning all over him and now Kuldeep Sen is the talk of the town.
Is it humanely possible to keep tabs on all of this? Asking for a friend. We’re still processing Yuzi’s hattrick and celebration.
Person of Interest
On Saturday, PV Sindhu fell to Japanese World No.2 Akane Yamaguchi in the semifinals of the Badminton Asian Championships in the Philippines. Despite clinching a bronze medal, her second ever medal in this tournament, the main talking point from the game was the contentious refereeing.
The incident took place midway through the second game, when Sindhu was given a point penalty by the umpire for taking too long between points. It was a decision Sindhu didn’t take kindly to and her remonstrations with the umpire led to the chief referee getting involved in the matter. The fracas on court derailed Sindhu’s momentum, who until then had been leading 21-13, 14-11. She won just two more points in the 2nd game and lost the decider 16-21.
“I think that (point penalty) was one of the reasons why I lost. I mean that is my feeling because at that moment it was 14-11 and could have become 15-11 but instead it became 14-12 and she took continuous points. And I think it was very unfair. Maybe I would have won the match and played in the final,” a shattered Sindhu said after the game.
While many saw her no-show at the medal ceremony as a sign of protest, her father Ramana clarified that she’d sought permission to skip the ceremony as she had to rush back home to prepare for the upcoming Uber Cup.
Direct Hits
Kerala’s current superiority in Indian football is staggering; they are the current I-League holders, Santosh Trophy winners, defending IWL champions and ISL finalists.
So it’s only fitting that FIFA has released a documentary on how the sport is so deeply interwoven in the state’s fabric. Free to watch on FIFA’s own streaming platform FIFA+, the documentary “brings you six unique stories that take you on a journey across the football crazy land of Kerala”.
Watch it here
Question of the Week:
What is Kerala Blasters’ nickname?
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In last week’s edition:
7 Things to know about Jehan Daruvala
The role Man City played in Mumbai City’s success
Ravi Dahiya scripting history at the Asian Championships
Read it here!
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Absolutely loved the stories !