When India play Kenya in the four-team Intercontinental Cup at the Mumbai Football Arena on Monday, Sunil Chhetri, the captain, will win his 100th cap.
Of those till playing, only Cristiano Ronaldo (81 goals in 149 matches) and Lionel Messi (64 from 124) have scored more for their country than Chhetri, whose hat-trick against a second-string Chinese Taipei side on Friday took his tally to 59.
India won the game 5-0, but only 2,569 were in attendance, in a city where well over 30,000 had crammed into the Wankhede Stadium to watch cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL) final, even though the hometown Mumbai Indians had not made it. The turnout, or lack of it, prompted Chhetri to take to social media to practically beg supporters to turn up.
“To all of you who are fans of big European clubs and support European clubs with so much passion … sometimes you guys think that the level is not the same, so why do you waste your time?” he said. “Agreed, the level is not the same, not even close but with our desire and determination, we will try our best to make your time worth [while].
“To all of you, who have lost hope or don’t have any hope in Indian football, we request you to come and watch us in the stadium. I mean, it’s not fun to criticize and abuse on the Internet. Come to the stadium, do it on our face, scream at us, shout at us, abuse us. Who knows, one day we might change you guys, you might start cheering for us. You guys have no idea how important you guys are and how important your support is.”
His palms together like a mendicant seeking alms, the video made for depressing viewing, but every line struck a chord. Today’s Indian football follower is typically someone who got into the game watching coverage of the Premier League, La Liga and the Champions League, as cable television transformed India’s sporting landscape in the 1990s.
David Beckham, from his wonder goal against Wimbledon in 1997, was probably the first poster boy, but the following decade also saw plenty of support for Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal and the Spanish super clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Post-Istanbul (2005), Liverpool’s stock grew, as did Chelsea’s in that first golden spell under Jose Mourinho.
The Indian Super League (ISL) began in 2014, in parallel with the ignored I-League, and succeeded to an extent in bringing the crowds back to football arenas. Bengaluru FC, where Chhetri has spent a fruitful half-decade, has led the way, with a vociferous core group of supporters, the West Block Blues, turning up for every game. In their maiden ISL season (2017-18), the fan following had much to do with the team’s surge to the top of the table. Chhetri knows better than anyone the effect of thousands chanting your name in good times and bad.
Indian football was not always like this. In the pre-satellite-television years, such was the craze for live football that even matches involving local clubs were sold out. The Nehru Cup in Kerala in 1987 featured the Olympic sides from the Soviet Union and Bulgaria and a Danish side that had homegrown players from the league. There was also a Chinese B side.
The two goals India scored — Pem Dorji against the Chinese, and Sisir Ghosh against the Danes — were cheered by more than 40,000 at the Corporation Stadium in Kozhikode, with the makeshift bamboo stands swaying alarmingly at times. As many turned up to watch Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko dominate Brian Laudrup, his future Glasgow Rangers teammate, and the Danes in the semifinal.
Later this month, hundreds of thousands in Kerala and elsewhere will swear allegiance to Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Germany or England as the World Cup kicks off. Their own national team, however, remains almost an afterthought. “I request you all to please come ...talk about the game, go back home, have discussions, make banners,” said Chhetri. “Please get involved, this is an important time and juncture in Indian football and football in India needs you guys.”
Virat Kohli, India’s cricket captain, weighed in too.
“Please take notice of my good friend and Indian football skipper Sunil Chhetri’s post and please make an effort,” he said on Twitter.
“If you want to be called a proud sporting nation, we need to accept and support all sports equally.”
Making Chhetri’s 100th cap a raucous and memorable affair would be a good start.
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