Shimla-the birthplace of the Durand Cup and the Indian Air Force ...

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Seeking India’s 10 DURAND CUP According to its constitution, the Durand committee is headed by the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff committee as its president, with the other two Chiefs as vice-presidents. The other members are the Adjutant General, General-Officer-Commanding, Delhi Area, Chief of Personnel, Indian Navy, the Air Officer-in-Charge Administration, Commissioner of Police, Delhi, the Delhi Municipal Commissioner, President and Secretary of the Services Sports Control Board, representatives of the Delhi Football Association and Railways Sports Control Board and three important non-official civilian personalities elected by the Durand Football Society. purple beret July 2011 5
start up Editorial The 2009 leadership summit organised by the Hindustan Times, featured a panel discussion on the future of cricket. The panellists consisting of Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and Richard Hadley fielded numerous questions from the audience. Surprisingly, a gentleman commented on the bleak future of cricket in India, especially in view of the challenges posed by other sports. The gentleman used his personal example to make the point. He narrated that he had a luncheon invitation with Sachin Tendulkar, and he asked his son to accompany him. But to his horror the son curtly said that he was not interested - had it been Beckham, he would have definitely come along. However, the question raised by the gentleman touched a raw nerve – his comment was sacrilegious in a country that reveres both Sachin and cricket. It is obvious that the gentleman must have been wealthy and influential enough to be invited for lunch with Sachin. As a corollary, his son must be regularly vacationing in Europe besides being a student of an elite school where soccer is a popular sport. That probably explains the son’s exposure to international football and their stars. One does not discount the role that television has played in bringing live international football to Indian homes but the football craze is still, more of an up market phenomenon. It has yet to percolate down to the masses. For the Indian masses, an unshackled cricket is only a three decade old phenomenon. Prior to the 1983 World cup victory, cricket was more of an urban phenomenon, with ‘copy book’ style batsmen ruling the roost. There was more style than substance in their performances. It is only when commoners from small towns like Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni started arriving on stage that cricket got a new lease of life. IPL further democratized cricket. The hegemony of Delhi and Mumbai over Indian cricket was dismantled and aspirations of ordinary Indians to make it a livelihood have been kindled - one finds gully cricket being played in every nook and corner of the country and even in the middle of pot holed roads. And this bottom up movement explains India’s top ICC rankings in all forms of cricket. Barring a few towns and schools, football is far from being Atul Bhardwaj is a former naval officer. He is a graduate of King’s College London. He can be contacted at atul.beret@gmail.com Durand is back with a bang the most preferred sport. Messi and Man United are the topics of discussion among kids born with a silver spoon. In nutshell, the revival of football in India is happening from the top. Furthermore, for these children, the play station rather than the playfield is a more exciting option. Thus, the revival of football in India is not likely to happen in the next decade. It may eventually happen, but it surely is going to be a protracted affair. The Indian Armed forces with a deep rooted love for football need to be commended for their efforts to take the Durand tournament to the level it deserves - to see India on the international football map. The armed forces can create local football heroes reaching the hearts and minds of Indians For India to come up in global football reckoning, talent would have to be unearthed from the villages and small towns. But talent can’t be nurtured by thrusting Rolando on the downtrodden by showing them international matches, where the players are as alien to them as Sachin Tendulkar is to people in Germany and Greece. Local heroes have to be groomed and alongside, best sporting practices, devoid of politics and partisanship have to be established. It is these good practices that will ensure that infrastructure that comes up is as world class as the Delhi Metro and tournaments like Durand get adequate support for public as well as private agencies. The Indian Armed forces with a deep rooted love for football need to be commended for their efforts to take the Durand tournament to the level it deserves - to see India on the international football map. The armed forces have men who hail from remote corners of India and from all communities and can create local football heroes who would be brand ambassadors of the game, reaching the hearts and minds of Indians - fatigued by too much cricket. The Indian army and other two services are more than willing to perform this role with dedication, ‘bend it like Beckham’ to make Durand a grand success. purple beret July 2011 3
Page 1: www.purpleberet.com July 2011 Vol.
Page 5 and 6: the coveted trophy Durand is the th
Page 7 and 8: The beacon... Air Chief Marshal P V
Page 9 and 10: Lastly, we had to evolve a system t
Page 11 and 12: What are the future plans to take D
Page 13 and 14: The legacy A Purple Beret Story The
Page 15 and 16: me. They got a penalty award toward
Page 17 and 18: The IAF football team in 1948. Seat
Page 19 and 20: Winners Years Winners Runners-Up 19
Page 21 and 22: heroes The memorable Gorkha Brigade
Page 23 and 24: The Madras Regiment Football team
Page 25 and 26: the Gorkha Brigade team for many se
Page 27 and 28: has the Army XI entered the Durand
Page 29 and 30: Debrief Durand Football In 1947, wh
Page 31 and 32: Theories abound on this trend. L. I
Page 33 and 34: article pertains to sports infrastr
Page 35 and 36: football tournament in India (third
Page 37 and 38: Period Activities Purpose First wee
Page 39 and 40: though he felt a bit uncomfortable.
Page 41 and 42: Roll on Football on screen By Khurs
Page 44: RNI No.: DELENG/2010/33162 POSTAL N

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