Administrator’s Football Cup: Only 2 Chandigarh teams out of 44 show interest
Hundreds of pvt and govt schools, academies, but no zeal for participation
If numbers are to be believed, the city junior group football is in dire need of encouragement, and should be considering competing with teams from other states to boost the morale of local players.
As the UT Administration gears up for the 20th All-India Administrator’s U-17 Challenge Football Cup from January 20, the city representation will comprise only two local teams — despite the UT Education Department hosting the U-17 Inter-School Football Meet last October, with a total of an astounding 44 local teams. Of these 44 participants, as many as 12 represented government schools. Till Saturday, only one team (Chandigarh Football Academy — the hosts of the tournament) had confirmed their entry. However on Sunday, one more local team (Sandhu FC) confirmed their entry.
The city has hundreds of private and government schools, one local association, which has various football playing clubs as its voting members, and private academies, and still only two teams showed interest for playing in the tournament, which is an invitational meet and serves as a platform to perform for the city’s and region’s young footballers.
During the trials to select teams, the UT Education Department received such an overwhelming response from the players that they had to order videography of the trials and set standards for clearing the fitness test to avoid objections over the final selection.
While the local officials remained tight-lipped, coaches from different domains claimed that schools and clubs usually avoid playing in such a high-stake tournament as the teams from other states usually come well prepared.
“The teams participating in this tournament are professionals. The players usually play football round the year, while in Chandigarh most of the teams and players practice only on particular moments. Since this is an age-group event, most of the players leave practice after nationals and inter-school meets to focus on their studies,” said a young coach who trains in a local school.
Another coach added, “Chandigarh lacks the clubs and tournament culture. Even in this tournament, one of the state-run teams is specialised in playing football, while the other is still asking coaches to send their outstanding players for this tournament. The preparation for such events, in which teams from other states participate, needs proper time and a group of excellent players (like the state-run football academy) — which Chandigarh, unluckily, doesn’t have despite having all facilities.”
“A team may have been formed combining the talent from local coaching centres, but the teams are to be trained for the purpose of winning,” added a senior coach of the Education Department.
