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Santosh Trophy Comment: Punjab’s Home-Grown Talent v Bengal’s Assimilated One
Which is a better option...
08-Aug-2010 7:35:00 AM
By Rahul Bali
Santosh Trophy involves states from across the country send their teams to contest in a battle for supremacy in Indian football. It’s the glory of the state or the region which is involved. It’s a celebration of the local talent.
Agreed that we are Indians first but at times, it is better to forget that and engage in some petty bickering! Who can better say that than a Mumbaikar! Ok folks, I am not here to spread the message of regionalism just for your information!
Its ideal that every state have players who are home-grown and represent the local talent available in this competition.
When Bengal meets Punjab in the finals of the 64th Santosh Trophy, the case is not quite the same as while the latter has a squad full of players who have developed in their state, the former has at least three players and a coach hailing from other regions of the country.
A Keralaite Scoring For Bengal
Dhanarajan, Denson Devadas (Kerala), Robin Singh (Delhi), and coach Shabbir Ali (Andhra Pradhesh) aren’t from Bengal per say. All of them have been crucial to Bengal reaching the finals and only highlights their contribution to the eastern state.
On being questioned whether the local talent is being groomed in Bengal and whether their youth development programme, if at all present, is coming up with good players, Shabbir Ali pointed towards the rise of other sports.
“Now other sports are also popular in Bengal and hence there is an option to choose. Earlier, we would have exceptional talent from Bengal coming in as their main priority was always football. Of course, players are coming up now also but the talent is nowhere close to what you can see developing in Goa where football is the sole focus,” explained Shabbir Ali.
But if multiple sports would have been a distraction even Punjab would have not been able to come up with a constant flow of players who have the potential to make a difference as hockey, cricket and several other rural sports are very popular in the state.
The difference lies in the various academies across the state of Punjab where they groom the youngsters and mould them into a finished product to play at the top level. Chief amongst them are the JCT and Mahilpur academies from which great legends have come out including the likes of Jarnail Singh and Gurdev Singh, who had gone onto win the Arjuna Awards.
Local Talent: Maninder Singh
No wonder you see JCT come up with several new players every season despite big names leaving them almost every season. Amongst the 30 member squad with Indian national coach Bob Houghton in Portugal, at least five players from Punjab are part of the camp namely Jagpreet Singh, Baldeep Singh, Rakesh Masih, Anwar Ali and Baljit Sahni.
Whether Punjab ends up losing or winning the finals on Sunday evening, they have set a precedent for the other states to follow including the ‘hub’ of Indian football – Bengal.
It’s quite contradictory by definition as Santosh Trophy is a celebration of the local talent and to imagine a Keralaite scoring the winning goal for a Punjab or a Bengal is hard to digest!
So who are you placing your bet on?
Our
provides the best breaking news online and our 
football fan community is unmatched worldwide. Never miss a thing again!
Agreed that we are Indians first but at times, it is better to forget that and engage in some petty bickering! Who can better say that than a Mumbaikar! Ok folks, I am not here to spread the message of regionalism just for your information!
Its ideal that every state have players who are home-grown and represent the local talent available in this competition.
When Bengal meets Punjab in the finals of the 64th Santosh Trophy, the case is not quite the same as while the latter has a squad full of players who have developed in their state, the former has at least three players and a coach hailing from other regions of the country.
A Keralaite Scoring For Bengal
Dhanarajan, Denson Devadas (Kerala), Robin Singh (Delhi), and coach Shabbir Ali (Andhra Pradhesh) aren’t from Bengal per say. All of them have been crucial to Bengal reaching the finals and only highlights their contribution to the eastern state.
On being questioned whether the local talent is being groomed in Bengal and whether their youth development programme, if at all present, is coming up with good players, Shabbir Ali pointed towards the rise of other sports.
“Now other sports are also popular in Bengal and hence there is an option to choose. Earlier, we would have exceptional talent from Bengal coming in as their main priority was always football. Of course, players are coming up now also but the talent is nowhere close to what you can see developing in Goa where football is the sole focus,” explained Shabbir Ali.
But if multiple sports would have been a distraction even Punjab would have not been able to come up with a constant flow of players who have the potential to make a difference as hockey, cricket and several other rural sports are very popular in the state.
The difference lies in the various academies across the state of Punjab where they groom the youngsters and mould them into a finished product to play at the top level. Chief amongst them are the JCT and Mahilpur academies from which great legends have come out including the likes of Jarnail Singh and Gurdev Singh, who had gone onto win the Arjuna Awards.
Local Talent: Maninder Singh
No wonder you see JCT come up with several new players every season despite big names leaving them almost every season. Amongst the 30 member squad with Indian national coach Bob Houghton in Portugal, at least five players from Punjab are part of the camp namely Jagpreet Singh, Baldeep Singh, Rakesh Masih, Anwar Ali and Baljit Sahni.
Whether Punjab ends up losing or winning the finals on Sunday evening, they have set a precedent for the other states to follow including the ‘hub’ of Indian football – Bengal.
It’s quite contradictory by definition as Santosh Trophy is a celebration of the local talent and to imagine a Keralaite scoring the winning goal for a Punjab or a Bengal is hard to digest!
So who are you placing your bet on?
Our
provides the best breaking news online and our football fan community is unmatched worldwide. Never miss a thing again!Goal.com Poll
Poll runs from 06-Aug-2010 to 08-Aug-2010
Poll runs from 06-Aug-2010 to 08-Aug-2010
Who Shall Win The Santosh Trophy On Sunday?
West Bengal
61.98%
Punjab
38.02%
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