Why India Fails In Football

Who the hell is Charles Miller? Long ago, I knew as much about him as the computer-inventor Charles Babbage. But Miller, a Scotsman, was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil and returned to UK for his studies. When he returned to Brazil in 1894, he brought a football with him, something not so familiar to Brazilians. He organised teams with sailors and locals and organised football matches. In just over half a century, Brazil had become a powerhouse in football. The grave and memorials to Charles Miller (1874-1953) still stand in Brazil:

When did modern football come to India? Cricket first came to India around 1721 but football came around 1854. Naturally, football came to Calcutta which was the HQ of the British but it came to India much before many British colonies in Africa or South America. So, naturally, we have to wonder why so many of their countries became so good at football and we didn’t:

In fact, in all the colonies that took to football, it was the poor and working class who took to it while the elite had their own indoor card-games or courtyard games (That’s why it’s called a Tennis or Badminton Court) or in case of England, they had Cricket. Thus, India with all its poverty and backward people should have naturally taken to football. But, Indians of all classes happily took to cricket instead. Thus, lack of mass participation led to poor administration, poor infrastructure, poor local leagues and football suffered in India.

India has often been invited to the G7 meets because it’s a vast country and not because it is any great power. India’s vastness makes it a huge market for everything that the developed countries can sell to from Toothpaste to Tesla. The Americans have a nice way of describing their good towns. They define it as a “good place to live, work and play”. India missed that “play” part in defining their life. Just look at all the G7-G20 countries. There is only one sore country that has never been in a football World Cup final tournament – India:

One of the great signs of a developed nation or “Vikshit Nation” is that it is also good at sports. The top-10 GDP countries are all good at sports except India. That is ironic, because given the poor masses that India has, football offers more professional careers than cricket will ever do. Even famous players like Baichung Bhutia or Sunil Chhetri have earned well in lower level leagues abroad than most people in Indian sports (except cricket). And cricket has lesser opportunities worldwide than football does:

So, let’s get down to business and ask the question – Why does India do so badly in football. Many have argued that we are good at hand-eye-coordination games like cricket, hockey or TT. That may be a reason but the biggest reason is that Indians are some of the poorest “team-players” in the world. And football requires a very high level of team-play. If you cite cricket, it is a team game only by total number of players but at any single time, all the players are not in action together. At the most one batter, wicket-keeper, bowler and a couple of fielders are in action every time the game is in motion. All players are not in action together. The “unity in diversity” is another hoax that is fed to Indians without the essence of “teamwork”. Indians are pulled apart by States, languages, communities, castes, colour, religion and that fire of division is fueled more by politicians. This article from long ago explains this a bit:

I could argue that though cricket is not an entire team-game the way football is, at least hockey in terms of team-play is similar to football. And in hockey we have been good and still in the Top-10. The reason for that is in hockey, the competition is not that worldwide. The best hockey playing teams in the world are no more than 20-30 whereas football goes way beyond 100. In cricket too, the real cricket playing countries are no more than 8-10 so we are able to compete well. In all other games like Volley-ball or Basket-Ball, we crumble because all the players of both teams play in the action.

The other big reason is one that will offend many Indians but it is mostly true. Indians are weak at Spatial intelligence (often the reason why our modern architecture is average or sometimes even ugly), the masses are low in IQ and other cognitive and decision abilities. Unlike cricket, fast-moving games like football require spatial awareness, cognitive abilities and dealing with environmental chaos. For instance, the “decision density” (meaning the number of decisions you have to make per minute) is far higher in sports like football or tennis than say in cricket. Thus, Indians are comfortable with a slow-paced game like cricket in the competitive world. Except for the former colonial countries in Asia, cricket is not the most popular game in any country in the world. Mental agility requirement is lower in cricket than many other tough sports. So, we not only perform badly in football but even in most sports in Olympics:

However, many Indians are good at running down others. During the current World Cup, Portugal didn’t make it far and Christiano Ronaldo didn’t win any world cup, so the idiots at Timesnow were quick to run him down as having a “Black Mark” on his career or resume. There is no such black mark in sports. Everyone plays to win, everyone does their best. Football is high emotion in almost every country. Even in India fans are emotional and passionate about their favourite teams like Argentina, Brazil, Germany or England. They watch European league games and are fanatics for Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool or whichever their favourite team is:

Can India become a world player in football? Of course, we can. Kicking is a natural instinct for every human – it’s fun. Football started in China around 200 BC as kicking a leather ball through a hoop. England masses started playing football in the 14^th century with the bladder of a pig. Young school kids walking home kick a paper box or a small rock all the way home. Many of us have done it during our childhood. It keeps their mind occupied, gives a psychological feeling of control and uses up the time productively.

Modi and his BJP goons only fed cricket which was already popular and rich while they ignored all other games. Hosting a football world cup brings a lot more respect and money than even Olympics. Because private institutions were never strong in sports in India, the govt has to step in and controls most of the sports. If the govt decides to promote football in a big way across all schools with training, competition and rewards, I am sure football can grow in a big way. Naveen Patnaik revived hockey performance with special interest and programs. Remember, the Brazilians are not physically as strong as some of the Europeans are but yet they remain a big powerhouse in football. Too much hype of cricket has made India redundant in most other sports. And cricket does not provide jobs to more than 1000 players at any time. Football is a far bigger economy and a much bigger employer worldwide. 

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Candle Light Sinners

How the leaders and public figures of a nation respond to a tragedy reveals a lot about their character. Two coffins returned from LOC with the mutilated bodies of Lance Naik Hemraj and Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh. The head of one of them is still missing. I am not aware of any leader, minister visiting these families and sharing their sorrow with the nation. I am not aware of any leader or minister from the GOI attending their funerals. John F Kennedy once said: "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them”. If our late PM L.B. Shastri were alive he would wonder happened to his famous slogan of “Jai Jawan…”.

The tears of the families of the 2 Jawans killed on January 8 had not yet dried and some of our public figures were already into “debate” mode. A bunch of journalists and other candle light specialists got together to debate ‘Aman Ki Asha’ in Delhi on January 10. A Union Minister, Shashi Tharoor, was playing the moderator. Participants included: from Pakistan: Najam Sethi, Salman Raja, Wajahat Khan, Javed Jabbar and from India: Mani Shankar Aiyar, Salman Haldar, Shoma Choudhury and Kabir Bedi. Some govt guys, some filmy ones, some editorialists. Probably the most theatrical bunch in a tragedy! And what were they debating? Civil society for peace! One of the common refrains from the discussions: “Moderates will wipe out the Hafeez Saeeds”. If you look at the audience you can see the elites of society in all that jangles. Oh Yeah, these are the ones who are most likely to wipe out the Hafeezes of the world. I remember the movie “Gandhi” where in a powerful speech he says a bunch of lawyers in Delhi do not represent the people of India. If MKG were at this stupid debate he would have said the same thing about these people all over again. The debate was not only stupid it was also badly timed and reflected a serious lack of sensitivity on the part of the participants, audience and, of course, the hosts. Who else but TOI?

With what face do these Pakis come here to debate? Who are the morons who invite them? These are people from a country which sentenced the doctor who led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden to 33 years in prison. He was convicted of high treason. In any other civilised nation this doc would have been rewarded. These “useful idiots” from Pakistan (and India too) can’t deal with the stupidity of their own govt and want to lecture in Delhi. These worthies who are going to wipe out the Hafeezs were probably not even aware (owing to their ‘moderate’ engagement) that on the same day as the two Jawans were killed on the LOC there were 10 CRPF Jawans killed in Latehar (Jharkhand) in an encounter with Naxals. Surprising, isn’t it? The CRPF men were killed on January 8 but for our media that would be ‘Breaking news’ only on January 10. One Jawan’s dead body was stuffed with a bomb.

The PM, Manmohan Singh who didn’t have anything to say about all this had said back in February 2010 that “Naxalism is the biggest internal threat”. One wonders what he has done about the threat. He should be even more alarmed that the Pakistan camps were rejoicing the deaths of our Jawans so it’s clear the Pak army that was involved. Hafeez Saeed was also around the LOC and it appears he had offered a reward of 5 lakhs for the head of our soldier. These two tweets from Padmaja Joshi of Headlines Today say a lot. The PM and his cabinet need not worry I suppose. The so called “moderates” from India and Pakistan will wipe out Hafeez Saeed (the LeT mastermind behind 26/11), ably led by his minister, Shashi Tharoor. If all that wasn’t enough, The Hindu ran a story on the LOC incident implying it all started with an old woman, a Grandmother, who crossed over to POK. Even the headline of the story seems to turn the spotlight away from the brutal killings into one of providing “sound reason” for the deaths.

“Runaway grandmother sparked savage skirmish on LoC”. Skirmish? Was that all? The killing of two of our soldiers on our side of the LOC, their bodies mutilated, one Jawan’s head missing and all that was just a “skirmish”? Where did Praveen Swami, a supposed defence expert, get his intelligence from? Oh! He says “…highly placed military and government sources have told The Hindu”. Really? Which military and which govt? He doesn’t say and I refuse to presume Indian or Pakistan. Maybe Swami would like to clarify which country’s sources he was referring to. Swami’s article comes out and our journalistic-bimbo wastes no time in jumping and rubbishing all the “patriots” on TV. I guess you know who and which channel she’s referring to. Runaway Granny! Nice title! Let’s examine what key points his article makes and what the Indian Army responses were. (Indian Army response here)

Swami mentions the 70-year old granny, Reshma Bi, left Charonda village and crossed over the LOC to live with her sons in POK. This was on September 11 and the article implies in 2012. Inside of a week after Reshma’s flight, Indian troops began constructing observations bunkers around Charonda, seeking to monitor the movement of villagers. The construction work — barred by the terms of the LOC ceasefire of 2003 provoked protests from Paki troops.  Indian commanders, the military source said, conceded that the construction was in violation of the ceasefire. However, they refused to stop work, arguing that the posts faced out towards the village, posing no threat to Pakistan. Early in October, the official said, tensions began to escalate. Pakistan even made announcements over a public address system, demanding that Indian troops end the construction work. Exchanges followed and then Indian soldiers raided a Paki post on January 6 which led to the brutal killing of our soldiers on January 8. That’s it.

The army rejects the story (and I quote some statements). Swami’s story is not exactly short on facts but his timelines and linkages appear inaccurate. The Indian army stated that Reshma Bi crossed over on September 26, 2011 a full 16 months before Swami reported she did. On the raid on a Pak post, Colonel Dahiya rejected Swami's contention that there had been LOC transgressions by the Indian Army in the Uri Sector on January 6, 2013. He further stated that the article mentions announcements made by Pak Army over a public address system at Uri demanding a halt to any construction work. This also was factually incorrect, he said. The article also wrongly identifies Major General G.S. Rawat as the GOC of 19 Infantry Division. The current GOC is Major General Khandare. He said that Pakistan carried out cease fire violations on night of January 5 and 6, and the Indian Army carried out controlled retaliation from its own side on January 6. So in effect,the Army rubbished Swami’s report.

It’s a question of which one to trust; The Hindu or the Indian Army. Given the dubious articles that frequently appear in The Hindu and even otherwise I would go with our Army. Praveen Swami, though, is not a dubious writer. So where did he get all his “intelligence” from? Hmm! It would appear someone already knew this article was going to appear in a newspaper on January 10. Guess who? It’s none other than Wajahat Khan the Paki journalist who had appeared on Barkha Dutt’s programme “The BS here”. Yeah, a load of BS indeed! The programme over, late night (or wee hours of January 10) Wajahat Khan tweets to someone to watch out for a “narrative changer tomorrow” (ie January 10). He tweets and The Hindu delivers! Voila! This is the “intelligence” circuit of Swami as it appears. And Wajahat calls it the “narrative changer”. Whenever anyone uses the term “narrative” I immediately see a warning sign of concoctions being brewed. It’s a term that highly “intelligent” people use, like the ones at the AmanKiAsha debate in Delhi.

Do you need any more proof how stupid Indian media is? No, don’t go by my word. For some reason the AKA crap wasn’t telecast by TimeNow the channel of TOI group who came up with the AKA farce. The debate was telecast by Headlines Today and I wonder why. Maybe Arnab Goswami has decided AKA is nonsense too. It is Rahul Kanwal, who heads Headlines Today, who wonders what the Tamasha is between the TOI and its news channel. The families of dead soldiers are hopefully unaware of all the Tamasha going on. Our freedom is never free. Someone pays a price for it, usually a soldier standing guard on a fence. The shameless ‘Macaulay Putras and Putris’ who don’t tire of their AKAs and cocktail debates breathe because someone pays the price for their freedom to do so. They usually finish the debates, give sermons on TV, write crap in newspapers and go have candle-light dinners. I may have to call them the candle light sinners. 

Obama: "Yes we CON"

Among pathological Presidential liars who have visited India, Barack Obama probably has only one predecessor in Richard Nixon.  Obama, has misled his country in his election campaign and continues to do so on various fronts. It is, therefore, not very surprising that he and his party received a drubbing at the recent US elections.

His silence on the Pak involvement in terrorism may be a political compulsion. Staying at the Taj Hotel in Bombay with the area virtually a fortress hardly makes any bold statement to terrorists. But his worst lies were saved for a response to a young college girl’s question on ‘Jihad’ at the St.Xavier’s College in Mumbai. Obama’s response:

"All of us recognise that this great religion, in the hands of a few extremists, has been distorted... The religion teaches peace, justice, fairness and tolerance. All of us recognise that this great religion cannot justify violence...”

Distorted? In what way? Those who choose to kill and die, commit suicide bombings and beheadings swear by the inspiration derived from the Koran. They read verses from it to support their crimes. And yet it is distorted?

Justice, Fairness, Tolerance? Stonings, amputations, death to apostates, death to homosexuals, inequality of women, suppression of freedoms, free speech. All signs of fairness and tolerance? Countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan etc. fall into the category of Islamic countries with Islamic laws and practice the worst violation of human rights and the worst punishments. Do these countries fall into the “distorted” category? And these countries are fair and tolerant of other religions? And each time a crime is committed and claimed to be inspired by the Koran, the apologists don’t hesitate to say it was “misunderstood” or “distorted” by “few” extremists.

The greatest uprising against Islam today is in Obama’s own home country, the USA. Does he ever bother to understand why? Dismissing it all as Islamophobia is one thing, but to seek to understand why so many Americans are up against Islam is a question any serious President would ask. It has gone far enough for the state of Oklahoma to ban the use of Sharia law in a preemptive legislation.

The list of sites dedicated to a watch on Islamic Jihad is growing. Not only radical Islamists but even scholars from Islamic universities and Imams are overt in their call for implementation of Sharia law across the world. They make no secret about their goals.

There’s a good chunk of the population in the US that believes Obama is a muslim owing to his words and actions ever since he was elected president. His words actions in India seem to follow that pattern. In a Hindu majority country the most important shrine he could find to visit was Humayun’s tomb? And following that he will visit the largest mosque in Indonesia. Surely, Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, the Congresss (I) and its allies couldn’t have found a greater “muslim-appeaser” as a guest than Barack Obama.

After listening to his answer to her Jihad question, the student must have muttered under her breath “what a load of bullshit”! Obama’s real line has to be “Yes we CON”

Obama: "Yes We Canned"

The media, more than anyone else, is all excited about the US President's visit to India. None of them forgets to keep reminding you that this is the longest visit to a country by Barack Obama. Indeed, something to gloat about I suppose. Anyone with a decent understanding of this president's performance so far will have been quick to point out that this man is no friend of India. Some in the US even wonder if he's a friend of Americans themselves. The drubbing his party received in the recent mid-term US elections makes him a lame-duck president in many ways in his very second year itself.

I first heard an Obama speech in 2004, made at the Democractic convention. His oratory charmed everyone. That same oratory with catchy lines like "yes we can" endeared him to voters. Not just Americans, people across the world were charmed, and were delighted with the story of a black man being able to become the president of the US. It was a fairy tale everybody loved. Till he actually became president and his true colours started showing up. Much of his electoral oratory seemed to be just that - oratory and nothing else. He has turned out to be a man without any substance, harbouring deep resentment of Americans themselves, and actions that have led him to be taken for a muslim by some. Sample some of these:

1. He starts off appointments to his cabinet with many who were tax defaulters. Prominent among his appointments is Tim Geitner - incharge of treasury. He was the head of the NY Federal reserve while the collapse of 2008 was building up.
2. Starts off a policy of muslim appeasement (some Indian politicians will cheer that of course). Gives his first interview to Al Jazeera an Arabic channel. Gives a speech at Cairo University apologising for America. Sets an agenda for NASA to reach out to muslims! NASA? Is that their mission?
3. Bows to the king of Saudi Arabia, a first for any American president. Forgets that America was created in despise for such undemocratic kings and queens.
4. Holds Iftars for muslim community, claims "its the tradition of the white house" . A blatant lie that has been exposed all over. Frequent outbursts against Israel lends to suspicions of his being a muslim.
5. Claims muslims contributed a lot to the founding and growth of the US. Another lie nailed by thoughtful American historians and journalists. Muslims had nothing to do with America's founding or growth. Supports ground zero mosque and at the same time attempts to stop the Florida pastor from buring the Koran so as to not offend muslims.
6. Ignores the Tea Party movement as nothing more than a Right-wing backed movement.
7. Has alllowed himself to be misled by left-liberal writers, TV channels and comedy channels (like John Stewart's) as reflecting the pulse of American people's sentiments.
8. Continues his idea of big government, and ignores serious issues of economy and concerns of his own public.
9. Continues to fund the terrorist state of Pakistan despite severe resentment by Americans (and India too) Talks of pull-out deadlines from Afghanistan without a clear direction or victory. Supports talks with the Taliban.
10. Renames "war on terror" as "overseas contingency operations". Not clear if anyone understands this kind of nonsensical tactic.

Well, the Indian government and media even expected Obama to support them for a permanent Indian seat on the UNSC. For what? Of what significance is that seat anyway? This is the manner in which the Indian media fools the public, bearing similarities to the manner in which Obama fools the American public. The UNSC is a tooth-less body just as much as the UN itself. It is astonishing that a severely corrupt body like the UN sermonises the world on Human Rights, Climate Change and such other matters. In modern times the UN has become more of an extension of the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Countries) and proposes international laws on blasphemy. Is that the UN's job? It is time India pulled out of the UN itself instead of longing for a stupid seat on a stupid UNSC.

In short, let us welcome Obama as a state guest with honour in true Indian tradition and send him off with nothing more than our affection and best wishes. It would be foolish to expect any significant treaties with the man. Great orators do not necessarily make great leaders.

All the teleprompters probably just rehash many of his routine lines. He could now say:  "Yes We CANNED"