Something different… and important: Our Earth and How We are Hurting Her

What do you want, the left or right?

 

This post will be something different to what I usually post about. Usually I post about Indian football but today I will be writing about an issue that is very close to my heart and that is the Earth, the beautiful rock that we are sitting on today.

Unfortunately, we are hurting that rock. Ever since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, China has been expanding its reach in terms of trade and has now, as of 2009, become the leading country when it comes to trading. What are they trading? Nike sneakers, toy cars, our laptops and televisions… a lot of things and unfortunately they are not created in sanitary conditions.

In 2014, pollution levels reached levels that were 20 times the safe limit in China and most of it comes from the industry which makes the products Americans use. Honestly, it is sickening. I can understand wanting to increase your production and at the same time lower your costs but does it really have to come at the cost of the planet? Is greed really that strong on big corporations like Nike? Don’t they have enough money? Looks like not.

Believe it or not, it is a clear sunny day in China.

 

What can be done to change this? Honestly, I see the only way out is if there is major reform in the way industries work, new safety and environmental standards created but that would require spending money in ways the big corporates would not want to.

This is the world we sadly live in today, there is no care for being humble but care for profits and money… we see this today with football as day by day, the big European clubs like Chelsea and Bayern Munich get richer while the small guy has to grasp for the leftovers.

We see this in football as well… money poisons people.

 

Former Derby County and Leeds United manager, Brian Clough, once said “Football is all about money now.” and he was right, except that today that sentence would read “The world is all about money now.” Sadly, that money is having an adverse affect on our world as we speak.

Interview with India international and ISL starlet, Balwant Singh

Balwant Singh with the India national team

For many footballers, the ultimate dream is to represent your country at the international level, to take them to where they have not been before. For some footballers this dream did not come so hard for them as they shown from an early age their quality and ability on the pitch and earned their call-ups but for Balwant Singh, the 5 foot 11 forward for Mohun Bagan, the path to the national team was not quick.

Despite an impressive career with JCT FC in the I-League from 2007 to 2011, Singh only ever made it as a under-23 international with India. It was not until this year that his star finally shined bright and Singh found himself earning that call-up he was waiting for his whole life, at the age of 28, after a break-out season with Churchill Brothers. His form from the I-League eventually translated into the Indian Super League where the man who suited up for Chennaiyin FC became the first Indian goalscorer in league history.

In this interview, Balwant will tell us about how he eventually made it into Indian football stardom and the road he had to take.

Hi, Balwant. First of all, thank you so much for accepting this short-interview.

No problem. I was happy to accept.

Thanks. First question then. Everyone understands what happened after your breakthrough season with Churchill Brothers but what about before that? From JCT to Salgaocar, what was the story there?

Well, after JCT were relegated and folded I saw I had some offers from other I-League clubs. I had a chance to go to Kolkata but in the end I decided to sign for Salgaocar in Goa. Unfortunately, during my two years there, the team managed to find goals from their foreign players and thus I was either left to play on the wing or not play at all.

So how did you change that?

After the 2012-13 season, my contract with Salgaocar had run out and I was free to sign with another club. The defending champions Churchill Brothers offered me a deal so I signed. The club had plenty of fire power in the midfielder but upfront there was not many options as the club was trying to find new players, so I managed to get a run out and I took my chance. The coach had faith in me and I rewarded him and the team by scoring into double figures.

Amazing. You also won the Federation Cup, scoring in the final itself.

Yes, that was probably my favorite moment with Churchill Brothers, winning the cup in Kerala. It was all down to our team spirit and desire to show people that we can compete and win trophies.

Now, unfortunately, after the season ended, Churchill Brothers were relegated. You did sign for Mohun Bagan and then also Chennaiyin. How did those happen and how do you feel about leaving Churchill Brothers?

Leaving Churchill Brothers was hard. I had my best success at the club, I won a trophy, and I got my first India cap while playing for them but if that is what god intended then so be it. Thankfully I did not need long to find another club as Mohun Bagan were more than welcoming to me and Chennaiyin drafted me for the ISL after I signed with IMG-Reliance a month prior (July 2014).

Talking about that India cap. How did that mean to you when you made your debut for India last year?

It was a dream come true. I always wanted to represent India and to finally do it was fantastic. Wim called me over from warm up and told me to go out and once I came in I was the happiest person in the world and now I can’t wait to hopefully represent India more in the future.

Inspiring. Final question. What advice would you give to your fellow footballers who are trying to make it, not just professionally, but as an international.

When the chance is presented to you, take it. Take it and never let it go. Give 100% whenever given the chance because you never know what will come from it and when something seems to not go right, shake it off, and move forward. I did that. I had a good career with JCT, followed by a less than rosy time with Salgaocar but at Churchill Brothers I was presented to chance and I took it and now I can say how happy I am I did it. Hard work payed off in the end and I thank god everyday for that.

Thank you very much for this interview Balwant.

Your’re welcome.

Roster rules are finally out!

The Indian Super League owners in September 2014.

 

Well here it is. The news we’ve all been waiting for since Mohammed Rafique scored the winning goal in the ISL final back in December has now arrived and with both positive and negative reactions.

Yesterday, the Indian Super League organizers, Football Sports Development Ltd., revealed the new roster restrictions for the 2015 season. These restrictions include the introduction of a salary cap of 20 crore ($3,200,000), a minimum roster requirement of 22 players, 8 of which can be foreign, and an introduction of a players auction. It was also announced that each team would be allowed to retain five foreigners from last season and six domestic Indian players. Both the auction and the player retention idea both stem from the Indian Premier League, the Twenty20 cricket competition of India.

Now this news has come as good news for those in the Indian football fandom but also creates some questions. For one, the player auction is said to only include players from the India national team who did not participate in the last ISL. However, currently only eight of the players selected in the recent 26-man squad that will face Nepal in the World Cup qualifiers on Thursday have not played in the ISL. The recent news release said that at least 12 players will be available for the auction but where will the other four players come from?

Another question posed here is whether the salary given to the marquee players will count towards the overall salary cap. The salary cap of the ISL will be less than the one in Major League Soccer but higher than the one in the A-League of Australia but a marquee player could take up at least 25% of that cap. Last season, marquee players such as Alessandro Del Piero and Robert Pires earned $1,700,000 and $700,000 respectively. If these numbers are included in the salary cap then there will be less money for teams to play with for the other 21 players and thus the talent on the field could suffer.

Alessandro Del Piero was the most expensive player during last seasons ISL, earning $1,700,000 for his 2 month stay in India.

As well as that, you also got to question the fact that in the release it was revealed that each team must include two developmental players. Last season a developmental player was an Indian under the age of 23. Most players by that age are past the stage of development so those developmental spots would be most likely better serve players under-21 but so far there is no indication that there is a change in what a developmental player is.

But while these questions are being posed, you also got to congratulate the organizers. Unlike last season, we now have clear roster rules for the league. Last season no one outside of the league knew what the rules where. We had no idea if there was a salary cap, how many foreigners were allowed on each team etc. Now we know and it should make for better debate between ISL fans. Also, now that we know that there is a salary cap we can confirm that the organizers are focused on long-term stability rather than just cashing in quickly on the league.

This gives hope to those who were hoping for further developments down the line. Currently there is hope that the organizers are invested in the Indian Super League in the long run and that eventually we can see more work being done with grassroots and the community which can eventually lead to India becoming a strong contender internationally in the future.

So far this is a good start for the 2015 Indian Super League and I am pretty sure there is more news to come. Last week former Dempo coach Armando Colaco hinted at the possibility of Atletico de Kolkata starting a youth team in the Calcutta Football League and there is also rumors of ownership changes in NorthEast United. Stayed tuned because this off-season is only just getting started.

The Top 5 Uncapped Players on the current India national team

We are close to the day that could define Indian football for years to come. In a little more than a week, India will take on Nepal in a FIFA World Cup qualifier and anything less than a victory could be severely detrimental to Indian football and India coach Stephen Constantine. The Englishman has selected 26 of what he considers the best Indian players currently, 14 of which are uncapped. It will be these uncapped players that will help define Indian football for years but which ones will have the biggest impact?

Here are the 5 uncapped Indian players who could really help contribute to the improvement of Indian football!

5) Anthony D’Souza (Pune FC)

The silent midfielder. Not many people notice him on the pitch but once you check the stats sheet you notice the impact he had.

4) Mandar Rao Desai (Dempo)

His impressive performance in the Indian Super League got him noticed by many and he has been rewarded with a call-up to the national team. The speedy winger will be vital to an Indian team which has lacked a technical winger for years.

3) Eugeneson Lyngdoh (Bengaluru FC)

Not much was expected from Lyngdoh after his move to Bengaluru FC but this season he has been the teams best player and the 28-year old midfielder has been rewarded with his first call-up ever to the national team.

2) Sandesh Jhingan (Sporting Goa)

The Indian Super League Emerging Player of the Year, the defender has made a name for himself within the last year and can play all across the back-line. He is tall, imposing, and very good with his feet. So far the only bright spot on a poor Sporting Goa team.

1) Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (Stabæk – Sweden)

The only Indian player playing abroad right now, Gurpreet will fill a hole in the Indian team and that is the lack of a proper keeper who can keep the back-line in check for 90 minutes and not give away weird penalties that Subrata Pal did.

Your Indian Football Support

Who is your favorite player? Who is your favorite foreign player? Whats your favorite stadium? Answer these questions and more on the survey that keeps on giving here.

How the Indian Super League can help Football in India

 

The Salt Lake Stadium, home of Atletico de Kolkata and also the venue of the first ever ISL match

With the second season of the Indian Super League only six months away, the organizers yesterday revealed important information on how the second season will be conducted and what their long-term ambitions are. While these ambitions are very forward thinking, especially within the Indian football circuit, it is very important to note that as long as the Indian Super League remains as just a two to three spectacle which focuses more on the celebrities than the players then this “festival of football” will not do much to improve Indian football in the near future.

Indian football is in major need of a change. With the national football team languishing at 171 in the FIFA rankings, an all-time low, and the national I-League being less organized than in previous seasons it is more evident than before that there is need for drastic change and the Indian Super League can be a part of this change but they need to change from a “festival of football” to being an actual football league like the Premier League in England. This is how the organizers of the Indian Super League can do this:

1) Slowly increase the length of the league per season:

The first season of the Indian Super League went from October to December, with the second season now going from September to December. This short-season format has worked with the Indian Premier League cricket league but it can’t work with football. The top football leagues run for at least seven to eight months with the best league, the Premier League, running for ten months a season.

The Indian Super League organizers need to increase the length of the league in order for the tournament to help Indian football but it can’t just increase from three months to eight months just like that… the change would need to be gradual. For this season, have the league go from September to December and then for 2016 and 2017 have the league run from September to February and then 2018 go from September to March and eventually April. This should be easy to implement as the league adds in more teams and would make the league seem more legit.

2) Actually make the players contracted:

Rosters for the second Indian Super League are predicted to be completely different from the rosters in the first season. This is because the Indian players were only signed on-loan and not to proper contracts and because the foreign players were only given deals until the end of the season. Now, many of these foreign players have moved on to other teams in Europe and won’t be available for the second season. If the Indian Super League wants to establish itself as a proper league then it needs to be able to retain their better players and sign these players to contracts. This would also allow the players to integrate themselves with the fans and thus create a proper club culture within the league.

3) Better marquee players and coaches:

The first season of the Indian Super League saw marquee players such as a 40-year old Robert Pires and a retired Luis Garcia. We also saw old fashioned coaches such as Bryan Reid and inexperienced coaches like Marco Materazzi. If the Indian Super League is to establish itself as a league that can take Indian football higher then we need to be able to bring in better marquee players and coaches. Marquee players should be players coming from the top European clubs and who can all still contribute at a high level (such as David Villa who recently signed with Major League Soccer) and coaches should be those who recently coached in Europe (such as Paul Lambert who last coached Aston Villa of the Premier League).

These new marquee players and coaches will make sure that the quality on the field is better than the previous edition and would thus bring in more attention to the league which long-term could lead to more money invested in youth development.

4) The Start of Proper Youth Development Academies:

Probably the most important change that needs to occur for the Super League to really help Indian football. Currently, the Indian players on display in the league are sub-par at best. It was agreed by the media that it was the foreign players that made the Super League so good and that the Indian players lacked the quality to keep up.

While this is okay for the initial season, eventually Indians will want to see domestic Indian players doing well in the league and that can only happen if the development of younger Indian players is made better. The Indian Super League clubs are all owned by top businessmen so they have the money to start these academies, bring in good coaches, and provide adequate facilities.

These academies could also lead to money being made for the clubs through the transfer fees they could receive from foreign clubs for their young prospects and if not, the player can just play for the Super League club and not look behind in quality from his foreign peers.

___

So overall, the first season of the Indian Super League was a massive success, it showed the world that India can support football and not just cricket but it so far has not really helped football in India grow yet and so far it won’t in the future. Change is needed in the Indian football world and the Super League can be the catalyst to this change but the organizers of the league need to be able to realize that in order for this change to happen, there needs to be a change in the league objective.

Currently it is about the celebrities and festival and less about the football. If India is to become big on football in the future then it needs to be about the football and aligning with the world standard already in place.