Indian Football: A one on one with Arunava Chaudhuri

Here the direct link to the SportsKeeda interview with me
Indian Football: A one on one with Arunava Chaudhuri
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And below the complete interview done by Joydeep Sanyal:

Arunava Chaudhuri was born and brought-up in Remscheid, Germany and spend five years of his schooling in the Indian city of Calcutta. Arunava’s tryst with football started in April 1998 when he founded IndianFootball.Com, a premier football site which was also India’s largest website dedicated to football. Creating a niche for himself as a sports expert particularly in football, Arunava honed his skills by working in various organizations. Arunava has worked as a football commentator, expert and correspondent for different Indian TV channels – ESPN-Star Sports, Zee Sports, NDTV 24×7 and Times Now, while also talking about football on the BBC World Service, Voice of America & RSG.


Joydeep : Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to have a chat with you.

Arunava : My pleasure

Joydeep : How did your love with football begin? Tell our readers about your childhood.

Arunava : I was born and brought-up in the small German town of Remscheid, which is close to Cologne and Dusseldorf in the west of the country. And being a football fan or rather playing the beautiful game as a child was something natural to me and my friends. From the age of 10 I spend five years in Kolkata, went to the Calcutta International School and here I had my first contact with Indian football. Since then I am interested in Indian football, but in those days without Internet it was difficult to keep track of it.

Joydeep : You have done many assignments with major TV channels and broadcasting groups. Tell us which has been your favourite one.

Arunava : It is difficult to say then different assignments have had different charms. I love to think back to 2001 when I for the first time was co-commentator for the India matches in England. Or just recently the 2010 FIFA World Cup when I was reporting for Times Now from Germany and the Netherlands. Especially the final weekend in Amsterdam was impressive and a once in a lifetime experience.

Joydeep : What was the general reception towards Indianfootball.com when it was first launched. Do you believe there is utter lack of knowledge among Indian sports fan about their domestic sports scenario?

Arunava : As someone living abroad and starting a website about Indian football in April 1998, the early days of the Internet, many questioned why I did it. But I did get very positive replies and have made many lifetime friendships through the site.
Sadly I fear the lack of knowledge on Indian football or often Indian sports is a general phenomenon then often the sports fans in India want to watch and follow the best in the world. Sadly that is not often Indian. Indian football falls in this category with competition from the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, etc.

Joydeep : Being a Kolkata lad myself and an ardent football fan, I have always experienced the nostalgia on a big match day involving the three giants of Maidan. What has been the radical change in the football scenario which has seen the Kolkata powerhouses become mid table performers in front of the Goan clubs?

Arunava : The three Kolkata giants still haven’t woken-up to the realities of modern day football, which has finally also arrived in India. As you correctly say, they live in nostalgia talk about historic victories 40, 50 even 100 years back. But they forget that every new day is a day to live and fight on. Yesterday’s achievements are for the history books, but today you need to win and continue winning then otherwise you aren’t amongst the best.

Joydeep : How do you rate the Indian team’s performance in the recent friendlies and comment on their preparation for Asian championships 2011.

Arunava : I would rate them as mixed as the results are. The match against Vietnam showed what we can do on a strong day, while e.g. the Hongkong match showed the opposite. We are in a developmental process. And surely it is great to finally see India playing so many friendlies. Surely the results haven’t been the best, but we can’t become an Asian powerhouse overnight. It will take time still I think the team needs to get the results as otherwise the fans are getting restless. Especially the 3-6 defeat to Yemen has left a bad taste. But my biggest worry ahead of the Asian Cup are the injuries, too many and too long layoffs.

Joydeep : Bob Houghton is widely respected in the football fraternity. But somewhere down the line, he has never let the team play higher ranked teams on a regular basis . Do you think it was a mistake?

Arunava : Bob has his way of working and thinks that gradual progress is the way forward. I agree to a certain extent with him, but would have liked India to play one or two marquee matches against higher ranked nations a year. It would help raise the interest in football. Look at Indonesia playing Uruguay the other day, yes they got trashed 1-7 but it helps with the interest level in the game across media and society. And this is something we also need for Team India, but this is something the AIFF needs to pursue.

Joydeep : Is the AIFF working in the right direction for promoting and developing football in India?

Arunava : A 100% yes!!! Too slow for my liking, but that’s India and its sports. Hopefully under the new General Secretary Kushal Das the pace of development will pick up further.

Joydeep : There has been a fair amount of corporate involvement in soccer. Do you think there is some inherent problem which we are missing? There seems a vast gulf between us and top Asian teams , leave alone the world champion teams.

Arunava : As long as corporate India see’s the I-League and Indian football as “Corporate Social Responsibility” like Mahindra&Mahindra did, then there is no future for football. Football has been turned into a business over the last three to four decades around the world. Even in Asia it has been happening over the last 20 to 25 years. Our NFL/I-league is 14 years old now. Conceptualized to be a pro league in three to five years, the I-League still isn’t a fully professional league yet. And as long as clubs are dependant and unable to generate revenues, which make them profitable serious business people will not look at football. Except for maybe marketing purposes or people are fond of the game.

Joydeep : If you are the head of AIFF with unlimited powers, what would be some of your steps towards developing the national and domestic scenario in football.

Arunava : My first step would be to assess the current scenario in Indian football. Ideally I would travel around the country twice in a span of two to three month’s to review the state of the game across all states and union territories. Thereafter a team of experts would divide India into three, maybe even four divisions of development like the AFC has done with its club football. The first tier as AFC Champions League, the second tier as AFC Cup and the third tier as AFC Presidents Cup. This way one could realise the level of competitive football at senior and junior level across the country. And there would be competition amongst equals. What is the use of matches in which small football states get trashed 20-0 by the biggies. None at all, except humiliation for the small states.
This could be the way forward for state tournaments at senior and junior level, then especially at junior level Zonal competitions make financial sense to keep costs low, but for talent development it is rather useless.
The main focus areas would have to be Team India, I-League, infrastructure and youth development besides women’s football, referees and administration.
Bob Houghton along with Colin Toal have taken some steps towards a national system, but then you need to build from the grass roots up to meet at the top. The league needs to be professional with lower tiers and inter-linking with the local leagues to maybe have one national step-up in seven to 10 years. National and regional Centres of Excellence, three to start with and then spread to each state.
My dream project would be to bring the FIFA World Cup to India. And less and less people laugh about this idea in Europe these days. Maybe in 2030 or 2034 could be realistic as by then if the above is implemented, even to some extend, our football will have moved forward.
But these are just some ideas…

Joydeep : How do you see yourself related to Indian soccer in the future?

Arunava : A difficult question, but I think I have something to offer to Indian football and am willing to relocate back from Europe. But I am not someone who wants a position for the stake of having a position within the system. I am by character someone who wants to get things done.
I have my ideas and believes, which I would like to implement. So let’s see where the journey takes me.

Joydeep : Thank You Sir for this wonderful interview!