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The Class Of '84: Indian Football Lacked Media Coverage Back Then - Derrick Pereira
In this new series, Goal.com catches up with some of the members of India’s 1984 Asian Cup squad. We start off by speaking to former India defender and current Pune FC coach Derrick Pereira…
08-Jul-2010 10:08:00 PM
By Amoy Ghoshal
In January 2011, the Indian senior national team will be heading to Qatar to appear in the Asian Cup for the first time in 27 years.
India had last qualified for the continent’s biggest competition back in 1984 which was held in Singapore. The Indian team didn’t fare well as they got eliminated from the group stage without scoring a goal and winning a match.
They lost three of their four matches in the group, which had the likes of Iran, UAE, China and hosts Singapore. The only positive result was a goalless draw against Iran but the fact that it has taken us nearly three decades to qualify again for such a big stage, certainly makes the achievement of the 1984 squad commendable.
Goal.com caught up with one of the younger members of that team, Derrick Pereira. He was an unused substitute during the tournament but being just a part of such a major competition was surely a great experience for him.
Speaking to Goal.com, he first shared the experiences from the qualification campaign, “In the qualifying group we defeated teams like North Yemen, Malaysia and Pakistan and only lost 1-0 to South Korea.
“Those three wins were enough to book our place in the final rounds and that was a great achievement because we had qualified for the first time since 1964.”
However Derrick recalls that other than the media in Kolkata there wasn’t much publicity for the Indian national team.
“The media in Kolkata has always given a lot of attention to football and since all the qualifying matches were played there, naturally there was even more interest.
“But other than that we didn’t get much attention because there used to be very little publicity in the media for Indian football in those days compared to what it is now.”
Youngster In 84
The current Pune FC coach then explained the reasons for their disappointing showing in the tournament.
“Unfortunately other than a fighting draw against Iran, we couldn’t manage to put up a good show in the tournament. That was because we didn’t get any international exposure prior to the tournament.
“It is good that our current national team is going on a tour and playing so many international friendly matches before the 2011 Asian Cup. That was something we didn’t get and so when we played against some of the best nations of the continent we struggled to cope and returned home early.”
Derrick wasn’t willing to draw comparisons between the class of 84 and 2011 but did admit that the team he was part of did have a lot of skillful players.
“In 1984, I was still an emerging young player so I didn’t get any opportunity in the tournament but still it was a great learning experience for me and everybody in the squad.
“It would be wrong to compare teams from different eras because I feel every side has their own strengths and weaknesses.
Great Learning Experience
“I think our team had a lot of skillful players like Mauricio Afonso, Babu Mani, Krishanu Dey, Biswajit Bhattacharya. It had a good mix of young and old, for example Subrata Bhattacharya was included in the squad to add to the experience.”
Lastly the Goan looked ahead to the 2011 Asian Cup and had words of encouragement for Bob Houghton’s men.
“India is in a very difficult group because there are two teams that featured in the World Cup (South Korea & Australia) and Bahrain is also strong. Therefore we will be overwhelming outsiders and no one really will give us a chance.
Performance More Important
“But I think it is important to believe in your selves so my message to the current national team will be to have the self belief throughout and focus on performing well.
“The results may not be great but if the performances are fine then I think everyone will appreciate their efforts and national pride will be maintained,” he concluded.
India had last qualified for the continent’s biggest competition back in 1984 which was held in Singapore. The Indian team didn’t fare well as they got eliminated from the group stage without scoring a goal and winning a match.
They lost three of their four matches in the group, which had the likes of Iran, UAE, China and hosts Singapore. The only positive result was a goalless draw against Iran but the fact that it has taken us nearly three decades to qualify again for such a big stage, certainly makes the achievement of the 1984 squad commendable.
Goal.com caught up with one of the younger members of that team, Derrick Pereira. He was an unused substitute during the tournament but being just a part of such a major competition was surely a great experience for him.
Speaking to Goal.com, he first shared the experiences from the qualification campaign, “In the qualifying group we defeated teams like North Yemen, Malaysia and Pakistan and only lost 1-0 to South Korea.
“Those three wins were enough to book our place in the final rounds and that was a great achievement because we had qualified for the first time since 1964.”
However Derrick recalls that other than the media in Kolkata there wasn’t much publicity for the Indian national team.
“The media in Kolkata has always given a lot of attention to football and since all the qualifying matches were played there, naturally there was even more interest.
“But other than that we didn’t get much attention because there used to be very little publicity in the media for Indian football in those days compared to what it is now.”
Youngster In 84
The current Pune FC coach then explained the reasons for their disappointing showing in the tournament.
“Unfortunately other than a fighting draw against Iran, we couldn’t manage to put up a good show in the tournament. That was because we didn’t get any international exposure prior to the tournament.
“It is good that our current national team is going on a tour and playing so many international friendly matches before the 2011 Asian Cup. That was something we didn’t get and so when we played against some of the best nations of the continent we struggled to cope and returned home early.”
Derrick wasn’t willing to draw comparisons between the class of 84 and 2011 but did admit that the team he was part of did have a lot of skillful players.
“In 1984, I was still an emerging young player so I didn’t get any opportunity in the tournament but still it was a great learning experience for me and everybody in the squad.
“It would be wrong to compare teams from different eras because I feel every side has their own strengths and weaknesses.
Great Learning Experience
“I think our team had a lot of skillful players like Mauricio Afonso, Babu Mani, Krishanu Dey, Biswajit Bhattacharya. It had a good mix of young and old, for example Subrata Bhattacharya was included in the squad to add to the experience.”
Lastly the Goan looked ahead to the 2011 Asian Cup and had words of encouragement for Bob Houghton’s men.
“India is in a very difficult group because there are two teams that featured in the World Cup (South Korea & Australia) and Bahrain is also strong. Therefore we will be overwhelming outsiders and no one really will give us a chance.
Performance More Important
“But I think it is important to believe in your selves so my message to the current national team will be to have the self belief throughout and focus on performing well.
“The results may not be great but if the performances are fine then I think everyone will appreciate their efforts and national pride will be maintained,” he concluded.
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