52nd ranked Indian women's football team can teach men a lesson

They don’t have a professional league, they don’t get paid a single penny in match fees and they are not followed around by fans like a Sunil Chhetri or Bhaichung Bhutia would. But they are still ranked more than a 100 places ahead of the Indian men’s football team. This is going be one of those stubborn pills to swallow: the men’s team is ranked 165th in the world and the women’s team, unheard of and rarely ever covered in the media, is ranked an awe-inspiring 52nd in the FIFA standings. If the good performances continue, then instead of reading news about Team GB and Brazil performing well at the Olympics women’s football tournament, we would be wearing blue and cheering on the Indian team. What is even more surprising is that the team is ranked above the likes of Northern Ireland, Greece, Croatia, Ivory Coast and Uruguay. Now obviously the pessimistic way to look at it will be that only 130 teams play international women’s football, while 205 teams play men’s international football. But, come on, spare a thought. In a nation where football doesn’t really make headlines, the Indian eves are steadily making a name for themselves in the world circuit.  What’s more, they have never gone below 100th rank. Recently the team won three matches in a row against Bahrain and the points between the teams are so little, that with a few good teams beaten, the team might even climb up to as high as 25th. [caption id=“attachment_392531” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Indian eves are better ranked than the men’s team. AFP[/caption] In fact, if we did not have teams like China and Japan in the same bracket during the World Cup qualifiers, the team may well stand a chance of pushing for a berth at the highest stage of them all. So, are we, as a footballing nation, heading to become a country like the USA, Japan, Sweden, Canada and China, where the women’s team is way better than the men’s? Firstpost spoke to the Women’s National Team Director Subankar Mukherjee and he said: “There is a chance. If we can better our rank than 50, then more sponsors will come in seeing that we’re doing better than the men.” In terms of potential, though, the women’s team still lags behind the men’s. For example, the women don’t have a professional league of their own while the men do. It means that the number of men playing football is India is much higher than the women and that is part of the problem. CHANGE Potential may be low, but things are changing. “Earlier, women’s tournaments would be given some token lip service. Something on the lines of having 20 days to finish all 50 games on poor grounds, poor conditions and sometimes in dying light. The state associations were at fault. Now we put our advisors, spotters and match commissioners in each state and this has surely helped,” said Mukherjee. But then he said what really made the difference: “It is all about attitude. It also depends on who is heading the endeavour. The moment everything changed was when Japan won the world championship. It was then that FIFA also gave a fillip to Asian women’s football. And as soon as we told them that over 3000 players competed in our national championship right from junior level, they saw the potential.” Firstpost also spoke to India’s biggest female football star. Oinam Bembem Devi, midfield maestro and backbone of the national team has more that 50 international goals and is the first name of the team-sheet. “The recent changes are excellent. They may not give us a salary, but if you achieve certain things, they felicitate you (some players were recently given cheques worth Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000). But then again, I’ve never played for money.” MONEY, FACILITIES AND PROFESSIONALISM  What is disheartening is the fact that quality players come through the ranks and fizzle away into oblivion. Mukherjee agrees: “I have not seen a single rich girl take to football. These girls are not from very good socio-economic background and after a stage, they don’t see making a career at the end of the tunnel. On the question of getting any support from the government to aid women’s football, Mukherjee was quick to quip: “No support, absolutely no support. It is done out of the existing funds of the AIFF. Not a single deal or sponsorship comes in for women’s football. And I’m not disappointed about this fact because it’s happening since donkey’s number of years.” “There is no money in terms of salary provided to the women. We give them an allowance of Rs 600 a day on national duties and around $30 a day when they are outside the country. There is no question of professionalism here… rarely do countries have a proper professional setup in women’s football.” But Bembem is staunchly of the view that a professional league can make a huge difference: “If there is something like the I-League for us, then we can perform even better.” About a national league, Mukherjee was pretty honest: “There is no professional league for women in India. Where’s the money? We are planning to start a league this year but there are lots of conditions with this. Right now this league is only expenditure. One championship costs close to Rs 1 crore to organise.” Mukherjee reveals a shocking fact when it comes to money and aid from the government: “We need to organise three tournaments each for men and women. That is Rs 6 crore gone and we get just Rs 2 lakhs per tournament from the government. But this is not exclusively for football that the situation is like this.” Even when it comes to facilities, Mukherjee is disarmingly open in his answer: “They don’t get the same facilities as the men do. Foreign coaches come in and ask for better setups for the men’s team. But this doesn’t mean that the women have to make do with poor facilities. The hotels, food etc. is all the same. Just the foreign coaches are missing.” THE MANIPUR REVOLUTION Manipur have won 16 titles of the Women’s Football Championship since 1991-92. That is a staggering amount of wins. Bembem is captain of the side and reveals the secret of success: “I’ve never seen anyone refuse a girl play football in our state. There are no restrictions placed. Plus, we have very good leagues in place which makes football a daily part of our life.” She also credits the performances to a cultural approach to work: “Manipuris, according to me, are very committed and hardworking. I think that makes a big difference. Plus, we play from a very young age, which makes a difference.” Bembem, who is all praise about the AIFF otherwise, does recommend a certain change: “The training camps are in one-month bursts for us. I’d rather there were longer camps— for about two-three months followed by some foreign exposure.” Indian men’s football is talked about a lot of reasons — most of them wrong, but we never know, the women’s football team could be at the cusp of something great.