Indian football has historically struggled to find tall players, but now the national federation is targeting specific regions in the country to address the issue.
Most of the country’s top players — including the recently-retired Sunil Chhetri and current sensation Lallianzuala Chhangte — haven’t been among the tallest. It’s a disadvantage in set-pieces and a midfield lacking muscle often gets easily run over.
To rectify this anomaly, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) is looking west — towards Rajasthan, to be precise.
AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey said he has tasked club officials in Rajasthan to scout for tall players in the state that doesn’t have a rich football history.
“During one of my trips around the country watching football, I spotted that players from Rajasthan would stand out because of their height. That made me explore the idea of keeping an eye on them. So I spoke to officials of the Rajasthan state association to look for 14-15-year-old boys and develop their skills. There is a high probability that they will be close to 6’3″ or 6’4” when they reach the senior level,” Chaubey said.
AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey. (FILE photo)
One of the clubs involved in the scouting process is Rajasthan United. Krishan Kumar Tak, the I-League club’s chairman, said his team has identified areas in the state where players were generally tall and now regularly hold trials there.
“We’ve identified three places in the state: Chittorgarh near Udaipur; Ganganagar and Hanumangarh; and the Mewar belt. We noticed that people are genetically taller here, so we started holding trials there almost two years ago. Normally taller people hunch a bit, but it wasn’t the case here,” he said.
The players identified are then taken to age-group academies where their skills are honed before they get a chance at being drafted into the club’s senior team.
“Most of the players in our team are about six feet tall. Even the foreigners we sign are tall. It isn’t by accident. It’s a conscious decision to focus on taller players. Our ultimate goal is to provide the national team and other Indian clubs with such players,” says Tak, revealing that so far they’ve scouted eight players from the three areas in Rajasthan and hope that the number reaches at least 35 in the next couple of years.
The Indian football ecosystem is currently dominated by players from the North-East, who can easily twist and turn past opponents, as Chhangte has repeatedly shown. But Chaubey feels that their height, or lack of it, can be a disadvantage.
“What I have noticed is that in the Indian team, we have players from the North-East who have the speed and skill but aren’t that tall. At times, this can be a disadvantage in international games. So we are attempting to address this issue by roping in players from Rajasthan and developing them,” Chaubey said.
Democratising the sport
Apart from trying to scout taller players, the new AIFF committee is trying new ways to popularise the game around the country.
Including Sri Bhaini Sahib as Namdhari FC’s home ground and Manjeri, Kerala, as an I-League venue are attempts to broadbase the pyramid, officials said. It’s in line, they added, to take Indian football to newer centres, like the decision to hold a three-nation tournament in Imphal, which was never considered as a senior men’s international venue.
Remote regions like Narainpur, in the heart of Chhattisgarh where they held the U20 and Junior Boys’ National Football Championships, have been on the hosting list.
The AIFF is also focusing on women’s football with the Indian Women’s League (IWL) being conducted for the first time on a home-and-away basis and more importantly, the matches being live-streamed.
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