[domingo]

I mean the asian India: Is there a national team of India? Is there anything like FC Bombay or New Delhi United? I´m asking because I´ve never heard of that.

domingo

[Maczebus]

I'm not expert at all on this but have a look here:

http://www.indianfootball.com/index1.html

And what other sort of 'Indian' is there?

[domingo]

Some people still use the term "Indian" for native Americans, that´s why I made the specification. By the way is any of the us national-players of native origin?

thanks for the link.
Since India is the escond most populated country in the world I find it very strange that India is such a football-dwarf.

domingo

[skipshady]

Durant (sp?) Cup in India is the 2nd oldest football competition in the world, after the FA Cup. You can learn this, and so much more by watching the History of Football DVD.

[Brownswan]

Originally posted by maczebus
And what other sort of 'Indian' is there?

American Indians. Don't blame us. It was Spanish/Brit/Porto explorers looking for the "Indies"
that resulted in the Americas being "discovered."

Learning that the world was @ 1/3 larger than imagined, Euros dubbed our region the West Indies as opposed to the original objectiv -- the East Indies.

Native North Americans refer to themselves as Indians, though I'm not sure whether it's capitlized or not. Often they are more specific and refer to themselves by tribe.

And let's not turn this into a football/soccer thing, 'kay?

[denalimn]

Originally posted by domingo
I mean the asian India: Is there a national team of India? Is there anything like FC Bombay or New Delhi United? I´m asking because I´ve never heard of that.

domingo

There's an Indian player named Baitung Bhatia who has played in the second division in England. Big things were expected of him, but I don't think he's ever lived up to expectations in England. A bulwark of the Indian national team though.

[total_football]

Welll, I do believe that there was a small club-based National Football League that started up a while back. Not sure if it still exists. This is, in addition, the various states and territories who compete against each other. From what I can remember, football is the 2nd most popular sport in India, and #1 in certain regional pockets (Bengal, Goa, etc.).

[Elninho]

Originally posted by denalimn


There's an Indian player named Baitung Bhatia who has played in the second division in England. Big things were expected of him, but I don't think he's ever lived up to expectations in England. A bulwark of the Indian national team though.

Bhutia played three injury-plagued seasons for Bury. He was probably the best technical player there, but in his first season he had a lot of trouble adjusting to physical play, and sat on the bench for most of his second season. In his third season at Bury, he started most of the team's friendlies, and the first four league matches of the season... then suffered a major injury of some sort (I don't remember the details). He was probably rushed back too soon, and played in one reserve match in early December in which he re-injured himself and was sidelined for the rest of the season.

Bhutia is now playing for Mohun Bagan, one of the two big Calcutta clubs (the other being East Bengal). Most Indian clubs are in the area around Calcutta, the only area where soccer is extremely popular.

The Indian league has been professional since 1995.

[DCUnited401]

yes, the league is still going on and actually draws big crowds. i heard something about some big old rivarley and draws around 120,00+ people.

[notebook]

Originally posted by domingo

Since India is the escond most populated country in the world I find it very strange that India is such a football-dwarf.

India wins one medal each Summer Olympics, if they are lucky. Indians have to be one of the least athletic groups of people in the world.

In all fairness, there is little if any emphasis on organized sports throughout most of the country and this is true at the school level let alone youth leagues. There are few suitable fields to play soccer, even if one had a soccer ball which are uncommon as well. Cricket is far and away the most popular sport to follow though not that many play. Field hockey is perhaps a distant second. Soccer fits in there somewhere but at a level that is basically meaningless.