India have never played in the FIFA World Cup for football, apart from the qualifying rounds where we miserably loose against the stronger and better Asian counterparts (sometimes we loose against weaker sides as well). Seeing the sport gradually deteriorating towards oblivion it is almost certain that we may never see ourselves participating in this prestigious event, at least not in near future. Some of the Asian countries have improved to the extent of qualifying at least once but we would not learn how to achieve this feat from the likes of China, Japan, Korea (both North and South), Iran or even Saudi Arabia. Rather than being ashamed of ourselves for the fact that a country of 1 billion could not produce a team to represent a nation in the finals, the sport continues to suffer.
Well, this blog is not about finding out the root causes of why we have not even come close of participating actively in the main event, there are loads of analysis by the experts available all around and the reasons are quite obvious and well-known. This article will not keep on lamenting on the fact that we are just a mere group of spectator as far the biggest football tournament is considered. This post will rather focus on some very strange and curious connections that India have with the World Cup!!
Foreign World Cup Players Have Chosen India
Football was, is and will be one of the most loved sports in India, if not the most loved one. Even if India could not be seen as one of the participating nations, that does not push the spectators away. Nor does it create any hindrance for the players. So many of the wildly known world cuppers have either graced some of the Indian Football Clubs or they have come here playing a one-off match or just visited the country, much to the delight of the local fans of this global sport.
Some of the notable players to have played in India are -
· Emeka Ezuego of Nigeria played for East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting Club. He appeared in 1994 World Cup.
· Majid Bishkar, who was part of 1978 World Cup Squad of Iran is arguably the first foreign world cupper to have played in Indian Football Club. He also played for East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting Club.
· Costa Rican world cupper in 2006 Carlos Hernandez has played for Prayag United and Dempo recently added him to their team list
· Cornell Glen of Shillong Lajong FC represented Trinidad and Tobago in 2006 FIFA World Cup
· Macdonald Mokasi of South Africa played in 2002 World Cup. He represented East Bengal here.
· Another player from Trinidad & Tobago’s 2006 World Cup squad is Denis Theobald who played for Dempo
The recently held inaugural version of the Indian Soccer League (ISL) has given the fans worth their money by injecting a few marquee foreign players into the franchise based regional teams.
· David Trezeguet (1998 World Cup Winning Squad of France) played for Pune.
· Del Piero (2006 World Cup Winning Squad of Italy) played for Delhi.
· David James (2010 World Cup for England) played for Kerala
· Elano Blumer (2010 World Cup for Brazil) was the marquee player for Chennai
· Joan Capdevila (2006 World Cup Winning Squad of Spain) played for Northeast
· Robert Pires (1998 World Cup Winning Squad of France) played for Goa
Two of the greatest football players of all time, Pele and Maradona too visited India.
Back in 1977 Pele, representing the famous Cosmos Club of Brazil, even played a friendly match against Mohan Bagan which ended in 2-2! On that day, I have heard from of my veteran relatives who had the rare privilege to have watched the match live, the whole stadium was divided supporting Pele and Mohan Bagan, Pele may have even received more support than MohanBagan.
Maradona on the other hand just came to visit India in 2008 but the love and admiration he received from the crowd in Kolkata, despite having been away from the game for years, transcends the barrier of language, time and geography.
The modern great, Lionel Messi, played a friendly vs Venezuela in Kolkata in 2011. The wild reception from the crowd made him confess that India would always have a lasting impression on him!
In 2012, German legend Oliver Kahn visited India with his full Bayern Munich team and played a friendly against India, which happened to be the last match played by Baichung Bhutia. Predictably, the game was pretty much a one sided affair, as the German champions thrashed India 4-0, but the whole stadium was enthralled by the quality of the skillful football at a display.
These examples, understandably, do not form a comprehensive list.
Even though India is not recognized as a football powerhouse in the world, the unadulterated love for football in this country is widely renowned. The Indians are by default a great admirer of personal elegance and skills. People thronged the stadium to watch these stars play or to just have a glimpse of them in person. It can be argued upon that most of these stars were well past their prime when they were in action here, but seeing them live in action, sitting in a stadium in India, must have been a remarkable experience to cherish.
Unfortunately since the golden era of Indian Football, the performance graph is gradually going southwards and the quality-football-starved people have to quench their thirst by the sheer joy of seeing these globally recognized players. From the players’ perspective, apart from the huge monetary benefits that India can offer, the adoration and the fan-following are something which definitely motivate and please them.
After all, who does not want to be at the center of a little attention? The connection continues to exist through the iconic players.
An Indian Referee in a FIFA World Cup Match
Mr Komaleeswaran Shankar, the Indian Bank employee from Chennai was not an unheard name in the arena of football around India and Asia, since he has officiated in many major club and international level matches. He initially had dreamt of being a coach but was incited into being a referee by a wise friend. From a national referee in 1994 he entered the international arena in 1995 with the SAF Games. He had been under FIFA radar for quite some time, but when he got an offer from FIFA to carry out the duties of the Assistant Referee in 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan, he could not resist some tears of joy.
The humble man still remembers the biggest day of his life – 3rd June 2002 – when he was in Niigata Stadium in Japan, as the assistant referee for a group stage match between Mexico and Croatia. He was there for two more group stage matches – Belgium Vs Tunisia and Belgium Vs Russia.
Upon his return the 5'3" man was really walking tall as not a single decision by him was questioned.
He still remains to be the only Indian Referee to scale this summit.
The Indian Flag did fly high in the World cup!
FIFA World Cup Match Commissioner from India
Not only referring, India did venture into other aspects of a football match in the World Cups.
The AIFF (All India Football Federation) and the late union minister for Information and Broadcasting, Mr Priya Ranjan Dashmunshi, had been a member of FIFA technical Study Group for the 1995 Women World Cup in Sweden and officiated as a match commissioner in 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup in USA.
He also served special duties at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France as well as at the 2002 edition in Korea-Japan. He was the first Indian to do so.
But in 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, he earned the rare accolade of being a full time official Match Commissioner for a couple matches in the World Cup finals. Here as well, he was the first Indian to achieve this rare distinction.
As an official representative of FIFA directly, the duties of a match commissioner are to investigate whether the match was played within the rules and ensure the match has been organized properly.
He commissioned two matches in 2006 World Cup – Spain Vs Tunisia and Croatia Vs Australia.
However controversial he used to be in Indian Politics, his name in the history of Indian football is secured with this achievement.
An Indian Player in the FIFA World Cup
Little do we know about a fellow Indian to have played in the World Cup main event. In fact he was the part of a World Cup runners-up team!!
With an Indo-Mauritian origin, Vikash Dhorasoo was born in Harfleur, near Le Havre, in France. Growing up in a disturbed neighborhood, his love for football and dribbling skills soon made him well known in the local football community.
As one of the most promising midfielders and best dribblers in the country, he started his professional football career for Le Havre AC in 1993 where he played for five years. In 1998 he was signed by Lyon, one of the most renowned football clubs in the world. He was at his best in Lyon where he did win two consecutive Ligue 1 (French Premier League) titles in 2003 and 2004. At the end of 2004, he played for AC Milan for a while and had won a runners up title in 2005 UEFA Champions League final when Liverpool defeated AC Milan, but he was not used as a substitute in the match. He also played in PSG as one of the key players for a couple of years and had won the 2006 Coupe de France.
While at Lyon, Vikas was selected for the Les Blues in 1999 and made his debut against Ukraine. In September 2004, he received a call from the then French national Coach Mr Raymond Domenech to represent the French National team for 2006 World Cup Qualifiers and eventually the 2006 World Cup in Germany. France went on to be the runners-up of the tournament and Dhorasoo represented his country at the biggest stage of football in the world as a substitute for a couple of matches, along with the likes of the football legend Zinedine Zidane.
After the World Cup is over, Dhorasoo released a documentary called ‘Substitute’ which revealed the time spent in the French Squad during the World Cup, which sparked a lot of controversy and he was warned against publishing the documentary. He still released the documentary and retired from the international football. Dhorasoo has made 18 appearances for the Les Blues and scored a single goal against Cyprus in a 2006 World Cup Qualifiers.
Till date, Vikash Dhorasoo remains to be the sole Indian to have played in the main stage of any FIFA World Cup.
Corporate Involvement in FIFA World Cups from India
In November 2007, a proud moment came in the history of Indian IT industry, when Mahindra Satyam (the then Tech Mahindra) announced that the company will be one of the sponsors and the official IT provider for 2 consecutive FIFA World Cups – 2010 (South Africa) and 2014 (Brazil).
While the IT giant did sponsor and was the official IT provider for the South Africa edition, but it withdrew its nomination as a sponsor of Brazil version. However it remained as the official IT provider of FIFA 2014 World Cup.
The company not only successfully managed more than $1 billion in assets (cell phones, flat screen TVs, laptops and other expensive equipment used in the World Cup), they also delivered applications for the tournament cover systems for accreditation, space and material management, e-tickets, transportation, volunteer management, infrastructure, intranet and internet services and the helpdesk services.
The dribbling of Tech Mahindra was a truly a defining moment for the Organization as well as for India.
Entertainment Quotient from India in FIFA World Cups
Can Bollywood be far behind when world entertainment is considered??
The musical duo brothers of Salim and Sulaiman Merchant are quite famous in the Indian Film Industry as one of the most talented composers and have received quite a few appreciations. But their fame grew manifold, when they brought the ultimate laurel for the country by collaborating with South African singer Loyiso Bala and Keniyan singer-cum-song writer Eric Wainaina to record the anthem for 2010 FIFA World Cup. The anthem is the song ‘Africa – You Are a Star’.
The song, along with some of their well-known Hindi compositions, was performed by the duo at the 2010 world cup opening ceremony and received acclamation from all over the world.
Till date this feat is unparalleled by anyone from India.
FIFA World Cup Trophy Tours in India
India may not have played in the World cup finals ever and probably would never reach to anywhere close to the World Cup trophy, but the trophy reached India!! Not once but twice.
In 2010, prior to the World Cup in South Africa, FIFA organized a world tour of the trophy. The governing body scheduled to take the trophy to 86 countries around the globe to provide the soccer fans across the world an opportunity to have a glimpse of the trophy in person from close. The tour began from the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland on September 21, 2009 and eventually landed in South Africa on May 4, 2010. India was privileged to be one of the destination countries and on 15th January 2010, it was at the Mecca of Indian Football, Kolkata where the trophy was unveiled by German football great Lothar Matthaus (1990 FIFA World Cup Winner for Germany). He also reminded the audience about Maradona of 1986 and how they won the cup in 1990. This truly has to be marked as a ‘red letter day’ in the history of Indian Sports as this was the first occasion when the trophy reached India.
Four years later in 2014, one the eve of the 2014 Brazil event, FIFA decided to take a tour of the trophy to 88 countries over a nine month period. India was chosen once again for the tour of the greatest prize of the world football. Kolkata, the ‘City of Joy’, once again hosted the event from December 22 – 24 in 2014 and the coveted trophy was unveiled by the former Brazilian footballer and FIFA world cup 2014 ambassador Carlos Alberto Torres in the presence of Sports Icons like Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly.
On both the occasions, millions of soccer fans reached Kolkata from all parts of India to be part of these historic events.
The Jabulani Connection
No matter if India or Indians could not play in the World Cup finals, but India have managed to make the whole world play!
The Jabulani, or the officical ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, certainly had an Indian touch. One of the most essential part of a football is the latex bladder inside it, as the bladder gives the ball shape, size, speed and bounce. For Jabulani, the latex bladders were made by Delhi based Enkay India Rubber Company with the rubber latex sourced from Kerala. 7 Kg of rubber latex were sourced from Kerala per 100 Jabulani balls and more than two hundred thousand bladders were supplied for the Jabulani balls by the Delhi based company.
This ‘desi’ flavor of the FIFA World Cup ball would definitely make the Indian Football lovers proud.
Finally, India and the 1950 FIFA World Cup – the Fruitless Qualification
In 1950 World Cup, one team from Asia was to qualify for the main event. The Group 10 of qualifying round comprised of India, Burma, Indonesia and Philippines and the top team was to qualify for the main event.
Apart from India, all the 3 other teams in Group 10, withdrew from the tournament and FIFA did not invite any other team from Asia for the qualifying rounds.
India qualified for the main FIFA World Cup event by default, without playing a single game in qualifying rounds. In the main event India was placed in Group 3, along with Italy, Sweden and Paraguay with the fixtures all confirmed.
It could not get bigger than this.
But AIFF (All India Football Federation) as shortsighted they were, eventually withdrew from the world cup main event leaving the place vacant and we are still ruing the missed opportunity.
The most popular reason that was cited by AIFF was that FIFA banned footballers playing barefoot after 1948 Olympics whereas the Indian footballers were still not habituated wearing boots. The then captain Shailen Manna, quoted that this was merely an innovative façade to cover up the actual reason. AIFF simply could not understand the importance of the event and they valued Olympics higher than World cup. AIFF got back to FIFA citing reasons like expensive travelling, lack of practice time and team selection issues.
A golden opportunity was lost perhaps forever, due to the lack of vision of a few incapable minds.
Epilogue
India may have thousand more such bizarre connections with the FIFA World Cup, but unless and until India qualifies for the main event, the 'real connection' will never be established. And if we do qualify some day in future, we can hold our heads high rather than enforcing such outrageous relationships with the biggest sporting occasion in the universe, second only to the Olympics.
And I will have to update this blog by adding one more section to scribble down the ‘real connection’!
Acknowledgement and Credits for Source of Information:
http://www.techmahindra.com/sites/blogs/TechMahindra_Football_and_the_spirit_of_Rise.aspx
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