Is there anything like Indian footballplayers??

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?

 

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.

 

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?

 

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.

 

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.).

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Soccer in India is almost nonexistent outside Calcutta.

In Calcutta, the Mohun Bagan - East Bengal derby draws 120,000-plus fans, but apart from the two big clubs, league attendances are generally in the four-digit range.

Perhaps if India's athletic talent went to something other than cricket (and occasionally field hockey), they might actually win a few Olympic medals...

 

Yeah, I've often wondered about this. Why don't we see more Indians and Pakistanis playing in English football (both conference and league). I mean we see lots of first and second generation black Caribbean immigrants playing, so why not Indians?

Is it that they don't consider professional sports to be a viable career choice, do they prefer Cricket, or is there a stereotype which makes it difficult for an Asian footballer to get taken seriously?

 

Cricket.

England's cricket captain is of Pakistani descent. Any questions?

 

Didn't India once qualify for a WC but were sent home for not having any boots? I seem to remember hearing this somewhere.

 

I know why they are called American Indians, I'm not totally ignorant of history, my nation's or anyone else's.

And I wasn't aware that I was making it into a football/soccer thing.

If someone refers to something that is Indian, they should be referring to the Asian one, it being there first before the explorers made their mistakes, plus it's the only country in the world called India (and it's not even that small). Any other groups that wish or need to be called Indians should then be further qualified - ie 'American Indians'.

Sorry to sound petty but I don't enjoy being spoken to like some ignorant school child, 'kay?

 

A few years ago, while I was living in Burma, I caught a game on satellite between India and Sri Lanka, and I said to myself "Gees, a billion people between them and they can't find a decent Eleven." It wasn't very good, I have to admit.

No, I don't understand why soccer never caught on in India. Cricket is certainly popular, and they are successful in men's field hockey, although I've never seen them play the latter.

I suspect that with the globalization of soccer that might change soon.

I understand that Burmese soccer was quite respectable until the mid-1960s. After that, the Burmese military government pretty much sealed off the country, including sporting links. They would only compete in the Asian and South-East Asian games. They haven't competed in World Cup qualifying since the mid-60's; they were scheduled to this most recent World Cup, but pulled out (and, I think, incurred a fine for doing so). In the early 90's there was a renewed emphasis on soccer. Several foreign coaches, including one Dutchman and an Englishman, were brought in for short periods. Visiting Korean club sides were brought in to play the national side. Later, there has been some attempts to get some kind of league going.

Burmese in general are quite agile and make good athletes. The national game is "chinlon" or cane-ball, which involves kicking a hollow ball made out of cane, bigger but lighter than a hackey-sack, and perfect for developing soccer ballhandling skills.

The best player in the mid-90's was a guy named Than Toe Aung, who was clearly head-and-shoulders above anybody he played with. His National Team coach at the time told me that if Than Toe Aung ever left Burma, he could make a million dollars playing professionally, but I don't think he ever had the chance.

 

Ahhh, Shoeless Ravi Sastry. I remember him well and his brilliant run through half the Bangladeshi side to qualify for the Cup.

 

For Burmese international results (at least until 1982) :
http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/r.j.ger...871&TOYEAR=2001&COMP=0&TABULAR=0&DATAVER=10.0

Then in 1993 they were Myanmar:
http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/r.j.ger...871&TOYEAR=2001&COMP=0&TABULAR=0&DATAVER=10.0

 

There a highly rated British Indian called Harpal Singh at Leeds who has come the ranks and may play regularly this season.

 

beat me to it.... dam u

 

If I was him I'd leave leeds right now, Bowyer and Woodgate could strike at any time.

An Indian at Leeds is almost like a Jew or Black playing for Lazio, some fans may get on his back.

 

When I was in India last year during World Cup Qualifying, there was a rumor going around that Bhatia was looking at an offer from MLS. Make of that what you will.

I attended India's 1-0 victory over the UAE during qualifying. It was India's biggest soccer victory in many years but was greeted with the collective yawn that greets the MLS Cup final.

After all, India had just finished beating Australia during the Aussie tour. Hell, that event made SportsCenter stateside.

Sachin

 

Yeah, there is definately soccer in India. I was slated to go to New Delhi a few years back and the trip fell through. I specifically remember finding the Delhi soccer stadium on a map and making plans to go see it and any matches that might be taking place.

India has their eyes on making the 2010 world cup. It seems a tad ambitious, but it is good to see non-typical soccer nations putting forth effort...check it out:

http://www.kickoff2010.com/

 

Soccer is probably ahead of field hockey in terms of the No. 2 spot after cricket. However, cricket is so huge there that it soaks up nearly all the athletic talent pool that there is.

 

Hope India soccer emerges.