The Blue Tigers💙

LET’S BLEED BLUE

By Anaswara V Rajan

I am proud to be an Indian for many reasons and for some other reasons I feel like I should think twice before using the term 'Proud Indian'. And one reason among them is the status of Indian National Football Team. 

People in India were more concerned and obsessed with European Football League games and European Championship games than Indian Football matches. Also India praise cricket,  were Football have always placed in the second seat. Even we can seen it in the ticket rate for both the sporting events. The tickets for football matches were sold for very cheap rate. A nation in which football has became a popular sport, still there will not be enough supporters to fill the stadium. 

But as of now there is a huge variation in the status of football in India after the arrival of Indian Super League (ISL). ISL is the football league in India which started in 2014, has a huge fan base and stadium always goes housefull.

Indian football fans used to support the national team but mostly it was narrowed only in social media platforms. Why I said so, because I was one among them. I am a die hard fan of Portugal International Cristiano Ronaldo and supporter of Spanish Club Real Madrid FC from 2014. Till then at any cost I had found time to watch their game and missed only a very few. I get emotional when they loss the game and I misses that emotional feeling in me when it came to the loss of Indian football team. I never got answer, why it happens so? To watch a live match of Indian Cricket Team or Real Madrid in stadium was my biggest dream ever. Even I had wished to watch ISL matches in stadium and never ever thought of watching a live Indian Football match. Anyhow as every Indian citizen I always wished to witness the day when Indian Football Team qualifies for FIFA World Cup. 

Indian Football Team was founded in 1937. The team which is nicknamed as ‘The Blue Tigers’ was affiliated to FIFA in 1948. Independent India played their first football match in the 1948 London Olympics. India had invited to the FIFA World Cup in 1950, but unfortunately they refused to be a part of the event due to the travel cost. The very saddened truth is since then India have not come close to qualifying for the FIFA World Cup.

The most successful head coach for India was Syed Abdul Rahim, the one who led India to gold in both the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games. Also lead India in achieving a fourth-place finish during the 1956 Summer Olympics. 

The most successful foreign head coaches for India were Bob Houghton and Stephen Constantine. Both of them helped the team to qualify for AFC Asian Cup. With Houghton India won the Nehru Cup twice and the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008 which allowed India to participate in their first AFC Asian Cup for 27 years. Under Constantine the team remained unbeaten for two years from June 2016 to March 2018 which helped them to qualify for 2019 AFC Asian Cup after 8 years since Houghton left. He also helped the team to reach a better FIFA ranking of 96 in 2017, which was the best in last 21 years. Currently Indian football team is 109 in FIFA ranking. Igor Stimac is the present team manager.

The team appeared four times in the AFC Asian Cup, Asia’s top football Championship and finished as runners up in 1964. With the legends in the early 90’s I M Vijayan, Bruno Coutinho, Jo Paul Ancheri, and the veteran V P Sathyan the team had created a remarkable history. The Indian team which was positioned 143rd on FIFA table has been broke into the top 100 along with the silver medal finish at the South Asian Games in 1993. In the year 1995 India never got opportunities to keep their ranking. 

Bhaichung Bhutia, who was introduced in 1995 formed India’s best forward line ever along with I M Vijayan. In 1996 India ranked 94th position and till date it remains the best Indian football team ranking on FIFA. Also India had won SAFF Championship in 1997 and 1999. India had a steady decline in ranking over the years. 

After the retirement of Vijayan and Ancheri in 2003, India got a magnificent footballer named Sunil Chhetri, the pride of Asian football. He joined the team to create miracles. Chhetri showed up a wonderful signs of a quality international player. After the dissapointing performance of team in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup Bhutia retired from his career in Indian football and also Chhetri had grown up as a goal-machine. India ranked 173 in 2015, the lowest ever ranking in the history. 

As I mentioned before ISL created a new era in the history of Indian Football. Sunil Chhetri is playing for Bengaluru FC. In each and every match he had appeared he proves himself that how a professional footballer should be. Not only Chhetri the notable Indian football players Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sandesh Jhingan, Anirudh Thapa, Udanta Singh and so many talented players had also got a platform to show up their potential. A happiest and proudest moment is when the Keralites Sahal Abdul Samad and Aashiq Kuruniyen who were started their career in ISL had recently entered into the Indian football team. Obviously all these were the result of impact what ISL had created in Indian Football. 

The standard of Indian football has been changed but still the support from the fans has not got much change. And that's how this had happened; Chhetri had made a heartfelt appeal to the Nation after a match of Intercontinental Cup, which has less than 2,000 supporters. Chhetri requested, “To all of you who are fans of big European clubs and support your European clubs with so much passion, and sometimes you guys think that the level is not same so why to waste your time. Agreed, the level is not the same not even close. But with our desire and determination we'll make sure we'll try our best to make your time worth. I request you, come and watch us in the stadiums. I mean it is not fun to criticise or abuse on internet. Come to the stadium, do it on our face, scream us,  shout at us, abuse us, who knows. One day, one day we might change you guys, you might start cheering for us, please come. You guys have no idea how important you guys are and how important your spirit is. So today I'm requesting you, all of you 4th, 7th, and hopefully 10th june we are playing in Mumbai. Please come and support us, encourage us, watch us, abuse us, criticise us, talk about the game, go back home, have discussions, make pannels, but please get involved. This is a very important time in the juncture in Indian Football. And Football in India needs you guys."

Of course Chhertri's request had made change the mindset of people over India. The seats for the next game of the team was quickly sold out. India's football scene undergone a change when the captain demanded to show some affection and love for their "doosri country". Chhetri later admitted that "I never knew my video is going to have that kind of impact. And I thank everyone  has joined in. Being a Sunil Chhetri fan I had thought process about watching a game of Indian team only after his appeal. Since then I wished to watch a Indian football match more than anything.

Watching a football match is so special, what about going to watch a live football match. I think it is something which everyone should experience. One year ago on September 5 I had got an opportunity to watch live football match when I was in Shillong, the India v Oman match. It was a qualifying group game for the 2022 World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Indira Gandhi Atletic Stadium, Guwahati. India conceded two goals against the one scored by Sunil Chhetri. Oman made their lead in the last 10 minutes of the match. But I should say, it was an interesting match and an awesome experience for me. I had witnessed the Chhetri show.

I feel proud forever that I had watched my national team's game in a stadium for the first time. The picture of the atmosphere I had seen in the stadium was amazing; vast crowd, fans chanting, cheering up and supporting the players. India managed the lead but unfortunately losed the victory. I was happy to be there in the stadium but felt totally sad when the hero left the pitch with much disappointment.

Sunil Chhetri is known as Captain fantastic, he is fantastic though. One of the sportsman with zero haters. Chhetri ranks 10th in the list of all time international goalscorers with 72 goals from 115 games. He became the second highest international goalscorer among active players after scoring a penalty against Tajikistan in the Intercontinental Cup in 2019. He is selected six times for AIFF player of the year, two times FPAI Indian Player of the Year, AFC Challenge Cup Most Valuable Player in 2008, SAFF Championship Player of the Tournament in 2011, Arjuna Award by Government of India in 2011, Hero of I-League 2016-17, Hero of the ISL 2017-’18, Hero of the Intercontinental Cup in 2018, AFC Asian Icon in 2018, Football Ratna Award by Delhi Football Association in 2019, and Padma Shri in 2019, India's fourth highest civilian award.

Chhetri is the longest serving, most capped, and highest goal scorer ever in the history of Indian football history. The pride of Indian Football. He keeps his signature in every game he had played. He is a world known talented footballer, the legend of Indian football, but sometimes I feel like if he was not born as an Indian he may acquire more achievements than what he had made as of now. It is very difficult for Indian football team to bring up a player like Sunil Chhetri for the future. He remains as a hero in the history of Indian football forever. I wish, a day when Indian Flag flies in a FIFA World Cup game, Chhetri should be there to lead the Blue Tigers before the world football.