tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11023403.post115180649111490632..comments2024-02-07T13:43:03.364+05:30Comments on Musings: Why aren't we there in Germany?Balaji Chitra Ganesanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12946132372838633092noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11023403.post-1151966574873780922006-07-04T04:12:00.000+05:302006-07-04T04:12:00.000+05:30"Why aren't we there in Germany?"Why don't we win ..."Why aren't we there in Germany?"<BR/><BR/>Why don't we win more than one medal at the Olympics?<BR/><BR/>Why haven't we won a cricket world cup in 23 years?<BR/><BR/>Why do we have no one after Vishwanathan Anand?<BR/><BR/>Why is it that India hasn't dominated any sport the way we dominated hockey in the 40s?<BR/><BR/>Some more questions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11023403.post-1151943470454288152006-07-03T21:47:00.000+05:302006-07-03T21:47:00.000+05:30Had Bhaichung been playing for AC Milan or Juventu...Had Bhaichung been playing for AC Milan or Juventus (please overlook any spelling mistakes - I'm not very familiar with the teams), things would have been different. <BR/><BR/>Also, I don't think it should be a problem that football is not patronized in many of the major states. I'm sure, if we look hard enough, we can find 20 extremely talented players in Bengal and Goa. Balaji, you talked about the national team having a foreign coach. Do you know how good the individual team (Mohan Bagan, East Bengal, etc.) coaches are? Also, what about TCF?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11023403.post-1151909622760310612006-07-03T12:23:00.000+05:302006-07-03T12:23:00.000+05:30I've written a number of posts connected to footba...I've written a number of posts connected to football now. There is a lot of football that happens in Pune. Local clubs are aplenty. The problem is that there aren't too many world class grounds where you can have a real idea of how the ball moves and what are the speeds and angles and elevation needed for the passes and the shoots. These local players graduate on to national clubs and till that time, the quality of grounds is persistent. When it comes to qualifiers, suddenly its a different ball game. <BR/><BR/>Your point about the larger states not getting into football is correct upto an extent. I dont see football promoted as widely in Maharashtra as it is in Goa, for instance. <BR/><BR/>I think with the amount of exposure football is getting these days, it wont be long before football gets its due share of coverage. You might notice that currently, you NEVER hear anything about our national clubs in the news on TV. We hear everything about our cricketers and international footballers but I've only seen one interview of Bhutia in all these years. <BR/><BR/>-PeAcE<BR/>--WiTh<BR/>---GuNsGuNshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16465447014985870946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11023403.post-1151907950487594902006-07-03T11:55:00.000+05:302006-07-03T11:55:00.000+05:30Football in India is patronized mostly in Bengal a...Football in India is patronized mostly in Bengal and Kerala ... We don't have a Gujarat or Maharashtra or amilnadu/Karnataka/Punjab getting involved." That's a very interesting point Balaji, and worthy of thorough research.Sriramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06057437033650430013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11023403.post-1151873548046418612006-07-03T02:22:00.000+05:302006-07-03T02:22:00.000+05:30Balaji,I posted my response on the same site."Well...Balaji,<BR/><BR/>I posted my response on the same site.<BR/><BR/>"Well, I guess it is these generalities like 'Indians suck at it' and 'people care about cricket' that I wanted to dispute. "<BR/><BR/>That can't be helped. If Indians perform well at the international level, people will automatically start developing more interest in the sport in general and the Indian soccer team in particular. Even one WC appearance can change things dramatically. The biggest challange for AIFF is to find 11 talented players and provide them with world class training facilities and a world class coach. That's where corporate sponsorship becomes important. The shortcut is to offer all these foreign players in Indian leagues Indian citizenship etc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11023403.post-1151865962121380732006-07-03T00:16:00.000+05:302006-07-03T00:16:00.000+05:30Sachin,Well, I guess it is these generalities like...Sachin,<BR/><BR/>Well, I guess it is these generalities like 'Indians suck at it' and 'people care about cricket' that I wanted to dispute. Anyway I have responded to your comments <A HREF="http://sramz.blogspot.com/2006/06/tt_115003309504809103.html" REL="nofollow">here</A> too.<BR/><BR/>Balaji.Balaji Chitra Ganesanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12946132372838633092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11023403.post-1151815922204207002006-07-02T10:22:00.000+05:302006-07-02T10:22:00.000+05:30Football is not popular because Indians suck at it...Football is not popular because Indians suck at it and Indians suck at football because a majority of the people care about cricket. Here's a link to the discussion that was carried out on someone's blog site: <BR/>http://tinyurl.com/qavbrAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com