When the captain of the Indian football team takes to social media to make an emotional plea urging people in the country to support our national squad, you know it’s high time we did something about it. In a heart-rending appeal on Twitter and Instagram, Indian football team skipper Sunil Chhetri asked fellow Indians to turn up at the stadium and watch the national squad live at the ongoing Intercontinental Cup 2018 in Mumbai. Chhetri, who was his phenomenal self in India’s 5-0 win over Chinese Taipei where he scored a hattrick, said, “To everyone who is not a football fan, please come and watch us for two reasons. No. 1 — it’s the best game in the world and No. 2 — we play for our country. We will make sure that once you come to watch us, you will not go back as the same person back home.” He also added, “abuse us, criticise us, but please come to watch the Indian national team play.”
With the video going viral on social media, local footie fans lament about the lack of support for Indian football. “I felt pretty bad when I saw the video. Chhetri’s a legend — I’ve been privileged enough to watch him over several seasons. If he has to come down to pleading, it’s really sad. Fans need to decide whether all the talk of thinking beyond cricket is mere lip service or are they genuinely willing to give football a chance. If they can think of United and Liverpool as ‘us’ and ‘we’, while continuing to ignore Indian football, they need to take a good, hard look at themselves. Lastly, if they haven’t seen Chhetri and our other boys play, it’s entirely their loss,” says freelance writer Ullas Marar.
Ullas Marar
India has plenty of overzealous football aficionados who root fervidly for European clubs, but when it comes to supporting our very own Blue Tigers, we’re far behind. Chhetri even added, “To those who are fans of big European clubs and support them with so much passion, thinking that the level is not the same. Agreed, the level is not the same, it’s not even close. But with our desire and determination, we will make sure to make your time worth.” Data scientist Rakshith Ponnathpur opines, “This is unfortunate. There’s no dearth of football fans in urban India. But many have a condescending attitude towards Indian football because they are accustomed to seeing world class football played by the European clubs they worship. Mumbai has football fans in lakhs and sees many European fan clubs arranging screenings which are attended by thousands. If all of this had translated into supporting Indian football too, then Chhetri wouldn’t have had to make this video. It’s this section which he’s targeting — the ones who know the head and tail of football, but deliberately remain indifferent towards Indian football.”
Eighteen-year-old Rolan Gomes from Udupi, an ardent desi football fan may not have watched our games live, but he supports the team during every single match. “I got very emotional when I saw the video. Indian football needs a developmental aspect from AIFF which I don’t see coming. The authorities concerned must take strict action to ensure that football reaches a status as high as that of cricket in India,” he says.
Rakshith Ponnathpurs
Adds Ullas, “We need better promotion from AIFF rather than hastily put together tournaments or friendlies and a good start would be to have a calendar, to begin with.”
With India taking on Kenya on June 4th in Mumbai which is incidentally captain Chhetri’s 100th International match, let’s hope that Indians go out in huge numbers to root for the national squad. Go Blues!
