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SpeakOut: The Importance Of Santosh Trophy....
This time on SpeakOut, Goal.com's Amoy Ghoshal highlights the importance of the Santosh Trophy.....
26-May-2009 8:24:36 PM
The I-League and Federation Cup are considered to be two of
the biggest tournaments in the Indian football circuit. But these two
competitions are contested by clubs from a few specific parts of the
country like Bengal, Goa,
Maharahstra, Kerala, Punjab and very recently the
north-east.
So these two tournaments don’t really have that national feel. But one competition that truly is at national level and shows the diversity that exists in Indian football, is the Santosh Trophy. Teams from nearly every part of the country take part in it but still it does not get it’s due importance.
One of the reasons is that many of the big name players decide to skip the event as it takes place after the end of a tiring domestic season. That factor doesn’t attract too many sponsors and makes life difficult for the organizers.
And the fixture congestion creates a lot of trouble for the official broadcasters to telecast the event and thus we don’t get to see it on television. This season also the competition will be shown from the quarterfinal round only thus denying us the chance to watch players from teams like Tripura, Jharkhand, whom we don’t get to see in the regular club competitions.
It is understandable that the national team players skip the tournament to rest and get ready for another season. But even with the absence of such players the tournament can be made a success and it can eventually help in the progress of Indian football.
How? Well firstly, long before the I-League or Federation Cup started, the Santosh Trophy used to be the premier football competition in India. This tournament provided the club coaches and the national team coach the ideal platform to pick the best bunch of players.
Spotting talents is very important and the Santosh Trophy will definitely give the coaches that chance since it has 31 teams so there will be a large pool of players to choose from. The best part is that there are no foreigners so Indian players can start in games and show their talents which they often don’t get to do at club level. Even if one player fails, he is replaced by another Indian player so the coaches only get to see talented Indian players on show.
The other important aspect of the Santosh Trophy is that it gives teams such as Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan the chance to show that football very much exists in their region also. We often complain after looking at the teams of the I-League and Federation Cup that it consists of teams from only a few football crazy regions. But the Santosh Trophy tells us football is played in nearly every part of the country.
That does leave the chance of one sided games which has already happened in this edition and it would suggest that the standard of football is not that high in this competition. But on the flip side there is always a chance of an upset here and there which has already happened with elimination of Sunil Chhetri led Delhi from the cluster stage.
Therefore, overall if we analyse the involvement of teams from all parts of the country, ultimately it gives the tournament a much more national feel rather than lowering the standard of the competition. So it’s a pity that Nagaland had to withdraw due to railway reservation issues and the Arunachal Pradesh team were also disqualified from the tournament as they did not arrive on time.
The organizers should take more care of such teams because as I said earlier the Santosh Trophy is their only chance in the whole year to prove something in the sport that they love. Who knows, maybe there is a lot of quality in these teams but their absence from the tournament doesn’t allow the coaches and fans to know about it.
The tournament can also be used by a few national teams players to get more game time in case they were injured during the course of the domestic season or didn’t have a good season. Players like Sunil Chhetri, Steven Dias and N.P. Pradeep are doing exactly that. They didn’t have the best of seasons at club level for one reason or the other. So they are using the Santosh Trophy to play a few more games and regain their best form.
Of course that shouldn’t be the only reason to play in it. Regional pride should also drive national team players on to take part in the competition but after a tiring season its hard to blame them if they do decide to opt out.
It is true that national team coach Bob Houghton doesn’t consider Santosh Trophy to be an important tournament which was evident last year when he overlooked the performances of players like Ishfaq Ahmed of Jammu and Kashmir and Raleng of Services.
But that shouldn’t discourage the players because they can get a contract at some club by doing well in this competition. Raleng benefited from that last time when he was spotted by Chirag after finishing topscorer, while this season East Bengal coach Subhash Bhowmick did attend Bengal’s coaching camp to spot players and Mohammedan Sporting have decided to pick good performers from the Santosh Trophy.
While for teams from regions where football is not that popular but very much existent, there is no need for any extra motivation and we also shouldn’t underestimate the regional pride which is at stake for all players and that should be enough to motivate them for this event.
The coaches who are in charge of teams in the Santosh Trophy and who are in charge of different clubs can also help themselves by considering the tournament as a supply line for talented players.
Yes it will be difficult to attract sponsors but the organizers should take a few risks considering the long term advantages of a successful Santosh Trophy. The fixture congestion should also be avoided thus reducing the problems of the official broadcasters to telecast the competition from the very start. All this will give Santosh Trophy its due importance and once again it would be considered as a prestigious tournament.
Amoy Ghoshal
So these two tournaments don’t really have that national feel. But one competition that truly is at national level and shows the diversity that exists in Indian football, is the Santosh Trophy. Teams from nearly every part of the country take part in it but still it does not get it’s due importance.
One of the reasons is that many of the big name players decide to skip the event as it takes place after the end of a tiring domestic season. That factor doesn’t attract too many sponsors and makes life difficult for the organizers.
And the fixture congestion creates a lot of trouble for the official broadcasters to telecast the event and thus we don’t get to see it on television. This season also the competition will be shown from the quarterfinal round only thus denying us the chance to watch players from teams like Tripura, Jharkhand, whom we don’t get to see in the regular club competitions.
It is understandable that the national team players skip the tournament to rest and get ready for another season. But even with the absence of such players the tournament can be made a success and it can eventually help in the progress of Indian football.
How? Well firstly, long before the I-League or Federation Cup started, the Santosh Trophy used to be the premier football competition in India. This tournament provided the club coaches and the national team coach the ideal platform to pick the best bunch of players.
Spotting talents is very important and the Santosh Trophy will definitely give the coaches that chance since it has 31 teams so there will be a large pool of players to choose from. The best part is that there are no foreigners so Indian players can start in games and show their talents which they often don’t get to do at club level. Even if one player fails, he is replaced by another Indian player so the coaches only get to see talented Indian players on show.
The other important aspect of the Santosh Trophy is that it gives teams such as Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan the chance to show that football very much exists in their region also. We often complain after looking at the teams of the I-League and Federation Cup that it consists of teams from only a few football crazy regions. But the Santosh Trophy tells us football is played in nearly every part of the country.
That does leave the chance of one sided games which has already happened in this edition and it would suggest that the standard of football is not that high in this competition. But on the flip side there is always a chance of an upset here and there which has already happened with elimination of Sunil Chhetri led Delhi from the cluster stage.
Therefore, overall if we analyse the involvement of teams from all parts of the country, ultimately it gives the tournament a much more national feel rather than lowering the standard of the competition. So it’s a pity that Nagaland had to withdraw due to railway reservation issues and the Arunachal Pradesh team were also disqualified from the tournament as they did not arrive on time.
The organizers should take more care of such teams because as I said earlier the Santosh Trophy is their only chance in the whole year to prove something in the sport that they love. Who knows, maybe there is a lot of quality in these teams but their absence from the tournament doesn’t allow the coaches and fans to know about it.
The tournament can also be used by a few national teams players to get more game time in case they were injured during the course of the domestic season or didn’t have a good season. Players like Sunil Chhetri, Steven Dias and N.P. Pradeep are doing exactly that. They didn’t have the best of seasons at club level for one reason or the other. So they are using the Santosh Trophy to play a few more games and regain their best form.
Of course that shouldn’t be the only reason to play in it. Regional pride should also drive national team players on to take part in the competition but after a tiring season its hard to blame them if they do decide to opt out.
It is true that national team coach Bob Houghton doesn’t consider Santosh Trophy to be an important tournament which was evident last year when he overlooked the performances of players like Ishfaq Ahmed of Jammu and Kashmir and Raleng of Services.
But that shouldn’t discourage the players because they can get a contract at some club by doing well in this competition. Raleng benefited from that last time when he was spotted by Chirag after finishing topscorer, while this season East Bengal coach Subhash Bhowmick did attend Bengal’s coaching camp to spot players and Mohammedan Sporting have decided to pick good performers from the Santosh Trophy.
While for teams from regions where football is not that popular but very much existent, there is no need for any extra motivation and we also shouldn’t underestimate the regional pride which is at stake for all players and that should be enough to motivate them for this event.
The coaches who are in charge of teams in the Santosh Trophy and who are in charge of different clubs can also help themselves by considering the tournament as a supply line for talented players.
Yes it will be difficult to attract sponsors but the organizers should take a few risks considering the long term advantages of a successful Santosh Trophy. The fixture congestion should also be avoided thus reducing the problems of the official broadcasters to telecast the competition from the very start. All this will give Santosh Trophy its due importance and once again it would be considered as a prestigious tournament.
Amoy Ghoshal
Inside Goal.Com
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