Writing a New Chapter in the History of Mumbai Football ft Siddharth Sabapathy

[00:00:08] Well my guest today is a very soft spoken gentleman, he's young, talented and also hard

[00:00:14] working I would say. Not very easy to get hold of him, to catch up with him or because

[00:00:22] and that's not him being too proud or arrogant, it's just that he's caught up with different

[00:00:26] things. He runs a club called the Community Club of India, CFCI, Community Football

[00:00:31] Club of India and if you are part of Mumbai football you definitely know this man and

[00:00:36] if you don't it's a shame but we have caught it covered for you because this episode we

[00:00:42] have none other than Siddharth Sabapati and you are listening to the Totally Indian Football

[00:00:45] Show with me here, Hoseju Siddharth. Thank you so much, I know I think we are doing

[00:00:49] this in a time where he's back from Bangalore, he also has commitments with volleyball not

[00:00:53] just football he's part of the Amdabad defenders team. Thank you so much for taking time

[00:00:58] out and this was long due right? I think we've caught up many times, we've been

[00:01:03] friends for some time now but for me it's really a joy to get someone like you on the show because

[00:01:09] you've done really good work on the ground level so thank you so much and welcome. Thank you Siddharth

[00:01:14] for inviting me on this show, it's a pleasure to be here and I hope that the viewers and

[00:01:18] everyone who listens to this podcast will be able to find some value out of the conversation

[00:01:22] that we have and again once again I think you gave a really exaggerated I would say

[00:01:29] introduction about me but I am thankful for that and once again happy to be on this podcast, thank you.

[00:01:34] Now just you being modest here but let's get to the conversation right,

[00:01:38] how did the journey of sports or football specifically start for you and how it all began?

[00:01:44] So if I had to answer that question probably I'll have to go 10 years back during my college

[00:01:48] days. I was playing football just for recreation not any aims or ambition of taking it professionally

[00:01:55] me and my friends is playing in the MFA second division and we kind of realized that there isn't

[00:02:01] enough in terms of talent identification and a pathway for talent progression at the grass root

[00:02:06] level so we found that to be a structural problem. Somewhere we wanted a solution to it,

[00:02:11] Albert I would say more selfishly because we also wanted to kind of progress and grow in the

[00:02:15] field of this I mean in football so I and my friend or my colleague right now in my office,

[00:02:20] my co-founder in my company we just discussed an idea we thought we'll start a football league

[00:02:26] and we were staying in the suburb of Mumbai called Vellepale and that's where we thought okay we'll

[00:02:31] start a league for football and we started a league called Vellepale primarily. The idea was

[00:02:36] to get everyone together as a community and create a football based community so we got

[00:02:41] some owners on board, we registered players, we did an auction things like that and it

[00:02:47] was fictional points that we sold players on and we did it for the 121 category that was

[00:02:51] basically the age group that we belonged to at that time and that league kind of picked up really

[00:02:56] well and we saw a lot of people get involved into the league, a lot of the players who are

[00:03:01] playing currently for the likes of Rene Fernandez and a lot of the other players who played

[00:03:06] that league at that time and that's how we got into the sport and that's how I

[00:03:09] particularly got into the sport and I mean alongside playing then I realized that there is

[00:03:15] a lot more things that I can do on a management level, lot more value adds I can create and

[00:03:21] from one thing led to another from running the league I ended up studying sports management

[00:03:27] then I started to work for a sports company came back and I thought that probably I can start

[00:03:31] something on my own and that led to the creation of an academy and whatever I'm doing right now so

[00:03:36] I mean to say and answer that question in terms of how I started everything started with that

[00:03:41] league the Villa Parle Premier League and at a community level so it has it has some really

[00:03:45] interesting and amazing stories but again that's how it shaped me as an individual as I progressed

[00:03:50] into. Yeah I think that's one thing I missed out on mentioning in the intro but Villa Parle

[00:03:55] League is something that's that really picked on well as you mentioned and

[00:04:01] I mean you were what barely 1920? Yeah I started I was 18. 18 right? So you want to play,

[00:04:09] you were playing and you were like I don't have anything structured for that age category and you

[00:04:13] want to do this but it's not I don't think it was that easy right? You saw a key structure

[00:04:17] and I'm like okay let's just start something a league because to start a league like you mentioned

[00:04:22] that you had sponsors, you had people coming on board, you had auction of players how did you

[00:04:28] just create all this on paper before actually taking it on ground? I mean we didn't plan

[00:04:33] all of those things at one go it just happened one by one after another I could say probably

[00:04:38] when we started it the idea was just to create something which has some sort of visibility at

[00:04:43] least people come and watch it maybe we kind of create some sort of video content or digital

[00:04:47] content through it and share it across to people so that many clubs and everyone else knows that

[00:04:52] we also play football that was the only intention behind starting the league. Also for the fact that

[00:04:57] we wanted everyone to look cool in jerseys and put some lights on and things like that but

[00:05:01] other than that the idea was for us to get more visible but I would say that we got some

[00:05:06] brilliant support from people all around the community of Wille Parle. They were very very

[00:05:10] supportive we got a lot of people involved into the sport and everyone then wanted to add value to

[00:05:15] the game so somebody said I can get sponsorship, somebody said you know what I can get better

[00:05:19] owner, somebody said you know what we can make this even more better and more ideas led to

[00:05:23] the league becoming more and more organized more and more structured and that's how we

[00:05:27] we were able to do it and one big thing about the league was it involved a lot of

[00:05:31] youngsters who were actually in their colleges who actually volunteered to do work so we had a

[00:05:36] lot of volunteers who actually came in and it was heartening to see because they were in there for

[00:05:40] the money or they were in there for that they were there solely for the passion of the game

[00:05:43] and they actually contributed a lot to the league growing so we had a group of around 15 to 20

[00:05:47] people who used to get together every year in the month of May and then we used to create

[00:05:52] something like this league and it was really exciting for everyone look forward to it every

[00:05:56] year. Right now coming to the fact that this league grew right popularity-wise and

[00:06:02] this thing and it's I think it's a great example for community driven something right and

[00:06:07] Mumbai football now when we look at it yes there's Mumbai city at this point and there's

[00:06:11] there's always been a king krey and the other clubs but there's been like a gap

[00:06:15] and we see the history if you really dig down but I think kids nowadays don't know

[00:06:20] or maybe are not aware of the fact that Mumbai had like a legacy of football in the heart of

[00:06:25] the city with the Rovers Cup with the big names and clubs coming down and playing here

[00:06:30] Coopridge used to be sold out and somewhere we still struggle to kind of fill out a Mumbai football

[00:06:36] in our times right how do you see what changed because you are someone who've been there in

[00:06:43] this side of the generation right where you probably can see what has happened or what didn't

[00:06:49] happen and if we have something like a Ville Parle league the success of that where people

[00:06:54] coming out and saying why can't Mumbai probably adopt something that way all across the city because

[00:07:01] it's a huge huge city and you really cannot one club cannot really contain the whole

[00:07:07] mammoth of the city is so what do you have seen those changes and what do you make of where are

[00:07:12] we right now I mean it's it's I would say to answer that question probably one has to

[00:07:17] realize that if you really want to create some sort of relevance or a fan following for a

[00:07:22] particular club they need to kind of relate to an area or a locality or something like that

[00:07:28] unfortunately our structure doesn't really have clubs with names which people or players or you

[00:07:33] know fans can relate to unlike if you see in the European football structure or anywhere else

[00:07:38] across the world for that matter they've got club names after a location or after geographical

[00:07:44] area basically so it becomes very easy for the people around there to have some sort of

[00:07:48] relevance you can create a derby you know rivalry between two clubs all these are a possibility

[00:07:53] unfortunately in our structure it's not a possibility because of the fact that the

[00:07:57] clubs are named after mostly people or just like random names I think that may change in the

[00:08:04] years to come we are seeing a small sort of change towards that with the new set of

[00:08:08] owners coming in or the new generation of owners who are coming in who are particularly

[00:08:12] more focused towards creating like a brand more so than just a club so I think that may

[00:08:16] change once that changes probably we will see like more people getting involved in the sport

[00:08:23] I mean even for example say Mumbai city is there yes before we had more clubs in Maharashtra like

[00:08:29] we had a few clubs in Pune now there are not many clubs left so at the end of the day

[00:08:34] people are not able to relate to clubs you can't really have clubs named after people is what

[00:08:39] I personally feel and I don't want to quote examples as such but there are many prevalent

[00:08:43] right now in the association as well which are named after a certain individual or a certain entity

[00:08:48] so it becomes very difficult for people to follow it and they can't really garner

[00:08:51] such sort of a fan following so I think particularly football has to grow as a sport

[00:08:56] then it really needs to create those sort of rivalry matches like for example Andheri

[00:09:00] versus Villepale would be a good derby to watch or a Kandhivili Borivali or maybe somewhere

[00:09:04] in Navi Mumbai will have say Avashi versus Sanpada would be something exciting so something

[00:09:08] like that that creates sort of you know an excitement for the people to go and look

[00:09:12] forward to and also it should really create some sort of interest in the younger generation

[00:09:16] they would want to represent their locality or their generation so you are their club for that

[00:09:20] matter so that really matters that's what that's what I personally feel when you started speaking

[00:09:24] about the fact that how you kind of led to what led you to Villepale league you mentioned

[00:09:28] about the talent identification and the fact that there's enough potential but there's nobody

[00:09:33] actually going out then and spotting these guys and then bringing them up to a structured

[00:09:37] pathway do you think again I think maybe similar question I'm asking you but as you mentioned

[00:09:43] right now for Avashi to play a Sanpada or a Borivali versus even a town you have the

[00:09:48] South Bombay and the suburbs do you think a local league like a Villepale can be born

[00:09:54] every part of the thing and is how difficult or challenging is that maybe some you know

[00:10:00] MFA can do it or you know I know there's a lot that they are already doing but how of a

[00:10:06] put a big task would that be I mean how do you see that I mean it can be done it completely

[00:10:11] depends on individuals who reside in that area and how much are they kind of having the passion

[00:10:15] for the game so for example if they are really really fueled by the passion for the game they

[00:10:19] may want to start something like we did in our area and then you can of course invite players

[00:10:23] from the other localities also to come and play and there is already a Borivali league going

[00:10:26] on yeah there is a league in Bandra which is going on so multiple areas have actually kind of

[00:10:32] you could say emulated or recreated a similar league to the Villepale league there's a league

[00:10:36] in Kaleena going on a league in Wakola going on so there are multiple leagues happening it's just

[00:10:41] that they are not you know aligned with each other in a in a way that would make it more

[00:10:45] humongous in terms of its structure so right now I mean though the leagues are happening

[00:10:49] they really don't they aren't really connected as such so once that connection kind of occurs

[00:10:54] it will be more better for the sport and also in terms to answer the question for

[00:10:58] talent progression pathway it becomes more easier because obviously if all of them are aligned

[00:11:02] we can create data points from that you know we can create statistics in terms of the top goals

[00:11:06] scorers or the top assists or things like that and then those data points can be then shared to

[00:11:11] clubs that are playing in the elite division or when the senior most top tier of Mumbai football

[00:11:16] yeah you mentioned there were many stories at birth from Villepale league and as it progress

[00:11:21] whether it's Rainier playing or the other players if you can just share some anecdotes

[00:11:26] something that you even till today you'll always remember that something that happened

[00:11:30] any kind of stories that you can take us through sure I mean for one of our finals probably in the

[00:11:35] fifth or the sixth year we had closed or on 1500 to 1800 people who had come into watch

[00:11:40] a community-based league which was kind of unheard of for us I mean that's the kind of crowd

[00:11:45] which normally a professional league or maybe somewhere a semi-professional league which kind

[00:11:49] of get us to you know amateur or professional athletes sometimes get that crowd for a non-cricot

[00:11:54] once in a while so for us to get some a crowd around 1500 to 1800 to get sponsorship from the

[00:12:00] likes of Saraswat Bang Gatturade idea these kind of brands kind of believing in us was

[00:12:05] something really huge we never thought that the potential for grassroots sport will be this much

[00:12:11] and also the consumption for grassroots sport will be that much in terms of the

[00:12:14] local people coming in watching the game we never believed that which year was this

[00:12:18] this was probably this was in the year 2015 14 rather and that's when this happened and we started

[00:12:24] in 2010 so slowly and steadily it progressed one of the other things was this interesting story

[00:12:29] which I'll share is about in the second season Bupil Airy had come to watch our finals and

[00:12:35] it was the half time and the score was 0-0 between both the teams it was a closely contested

[00:12:40] game and from our side we had kept a prize money of 25 000 for the winners

[00:12:45] and Bupil Airy then announced and it's a seven aside league the Vilepa Lili that used to happen

[00:12:49] so Bupil Airy announced that you know this game is getting really boring and it's not really creating

[00:12:54] that sort of a bus for the crowd that has come in towards the game so he said from my side I'll

[00:12:58] am ready to give 50 000 to the winners so the teams that had actually gone on to the field

[00:13:01] they came back they huddled up and they kind of then started to discuss plans on how they want

[00:13:06] to do it and the score ended up like 4-1 or something the second half saw like five goals

[00:13:10] and because obviously it played a big role and that created like a crazy bus because

[00:13:15] all of a sudden the prize money catapulted to 75 000 which was a crazy amount and everyone

[00:13:19] became like too happy about it Mumbai Mirror covered it the next day all of this happened in 2011

[00:13:24] and it was really really cool and I mean there's a great jester from him but at the same time

[00:13:29] it also created an enormous bus among people so next year everyone started to say that you

[00:13:34] know what 25 000 isn't a motivational prize money offering can we increase it we are ready to

[00:13:41] put in some money or things like that and then we increased it slowly the purse to 50 and then 75

[00:13:45] and then 1 lakh towards the last two three years so it was crazy motivation for a lot of young

[00:13:50] players and the league used to be an under 21 league so what we also somewhere solved was this

[00:13:56] big problem that is always there prevalent in our structure is the fact that the school

[00:14:01] football level is you know kind of structured well but then there isn't nothing that happens

[00:14:05] at the college level so from school you directly just join a club and that's about

[00:14:08] that so we kind of cater to this under 21 category the idea was to give them more matches

[00:14:13] ensure that there is a proper progression pathway from school to an elite structure

[00:14:18] that helped I mean we just gave them a platform at the end of the day it was their hard work

[00:14:22] but at the end of the day for us the idea was to give them a platform and visibility

[00:14:26] that's what we did well thanks to the late Bappita over there he's he not only made waves

[00:14:31] in the music industry but that's one thing he did for football in in Mumbai in some way or

[00:14:36] the other right for it to grow coming to where it how would you come to CFCI and how would Sporko

[00:14:43] come into being you mentioned that you also done sports management course so was that something

[00:14:47] that began from there or how did that I mean I wasn't really planning to do sports management

[00:14:52] for me it was about just working in sports was a used thing and I was just learning by

[00:14:57] working and getting experience while doing that I connected to certain people and then I got

[00:15:02] this wonderful opportunity to the German Consulate to study in life sick about sports management

[00:15:07] there was a great opportunity and I'm thankful to both ITK as well as the German Consulate for

[00:15:10] this opportunity after coming back from the course I was planning to rejoin the company

[00:15:16] that I was working for before going to Germany then I realized you know might as well there

[00:15:22] is a potential for me to start something on my own I was obviously very apprehensive because

[00:15:25] I don't really belong to a business kind of a family and I discussed with my friend who was

[00:15:32] was with me during when I even when I started the league and we both had a conversation about

[00:15:36] should we do this because we really feel that there is a potential to start something

[00:15:41] and not just that we actually wanted to kind of create a better structure because the league

[00:15:45] was there but we wanted to create something for the younger generation the upcoming footballers

[00:15:49] so then we said okay let's start an academy because there was this turf which was nearby

[00:15:54] which we realized that there isn't training happening there and one thing led to another

[00:15:57] from training at one turf then we went to a school then we started to train a school

[00:16:01] then we kind of multiplied academies we already had teams in the second and the third division

[00:16:05] of the MFA we actually then helped them to progress and then that's how we started to

[00:16:10] create like a structure right and at this point I think the biggest news from this year I think

[00:16:15] even you probably would consider as a personal big win is I mean someone from being a Mumbai

[00:16:20] football I consider as a big win Srinidhi FC has you know has a partnership now with CFCI and it is

[00:16:29] it is a great news I think I was like why is there no more buzz around it I just saw happen to see it

[00:16:34] but the reason I say why is the big win is Srinidhi I know them I know the fact that we've had

[00:16:39] their technical director on the show as well and I have a good friend as a media manager in

[00:16:43] Tanei they're doing some good work at the ground level right it's one thing to have

[00:16:48] money and other thing is how do you use that resources to put in there and they have their own

[00:16:53] facility neither but they're definitely giving the run for the money for the ISL side there

[00:16:58] how did that partnership come by and if you can take us to something behind the scenes how

[00:17:03] did it all develop I think one of the reasons why that partnership happened is because of one

[00:17:08] of our senior coaches Maitreya he's he was doing his A license with Fabio who is okay and they

[00:17:13] had a discussion and somewhere they aligned the fact that you know what our players here need more

[00:17:19] opportunity obviously we've been kind of you can say actually giving or feeding a lot of players to

[00:17:25] Mumbai city yes at the same time we felt that our players need more opportunity to you know showcase

[00:17:30] their talent you get an opportunity so they had a discussion and Fabio felt this is a good

[00:17:34] opportunity for both of us and then we had a discussion we aligned ourselves on the goals

[00:17:39] of the objectives that we would want to plan as a club and that's how we did it it's basically

[00:17:44] talent scouting partnership where Srinidhi will come to Mumbai try to choose players or we will

[00:17:49] have send our players for a camp to the Hyderabad facility and then they can train with their

[00:17:54] coaches for a week or so they can actually you know help them become better if they feel

[00:17:59] they're already good they may probably absorb them into their own structure so it's a win-win

[00:18:03] situation for both of us for us especially because it's a great opportunity for our players to

[00:18:08] kind of progress and that's what we want as a club as an academy because we want more and more

[00:18:12] players from our team to go and progress and represent you know better clubs larger clubs

[00:18:16] with a better structure and that's how it happened and we think it can really help our team

[00:18:23] and not just our team probably we are also ready to you know help out other teams as well

[00:18:28] if they want to kind of use this ladder system to feed players to Srinidhi not just Srinidhi

[00:18:33] but just the fact that they will give their players a better opportunity to progress

[00:18:37] and when this partnership was developed and you were talking about it Fabio was here in town

[00:18:43] what is the response from the parents like I'm sure because you also have a different age

[00:18:47] categories you have kids and their parents suddenly now I also see the buzz among the

[00:18:52] young ones and their parents coming to the stadium watching the matches like you know

[00:18:56] you see a Mumbai city match I think for people like you and me it's overwhelming to see

[00:19:02] for outside was just like are we be stadium but now the whole point brings a smile to our face

[00:19:08] is the young kids coming with their parents and they're discussing they're talking I've had

[00:19:12] I'm sure even you had stories so what was the response from the parents like and how positive

[00:19:18] are they about this development so primarily the Srinidhi partnership focused on the under

[00:19:22] 13s the under 15s somewhere the under 17s but ideally the under 13 and under 15 is like

[00:19:28] this age where the parents are very apprehensive about what's going to be the actual future for

[00:19:32] the player till around under 11 it's all fun and games and they're okay the kids having fun

[00:19:36] but then under 13 when the player actually tells his parents or kind of discloses to his

[00:19:40] parent and he wants to make a career in the sport that's when they start really asking questions

[00:19:45] they felt that you know this partnership on board is a good thing because if in case

[00:19:49] they want to support their child in terms of making you know a career in football

[00:19:54] then they felt that this partnership will play a pivotal role or a big role in actually

[00:19:58] helping their child you know kind of achieve their own is or ambition so they felt that that is

[00:20:04] a brilliant thing for them and also at the same time they were happy that we are actually exploring

[00:20:08] more opportunities for the children because we could easily be a club that's shut you know

[00:20:15] just happy with what we are doing but we are not with that mindset for us it's all about

[00:20:19] ensuring that our players get the next step or the next ladder in their progression

[00:20:23] so the parents also know that for a fact that you know till the time they can't achieve their

[00:20:28] next progression we are there to kind of support and help them in their journey but once they become

[00:20:33] better and better and better and then they may be represent Mumbai or Maharashtra then of course

[00:20:37] we want them to get better opportunities that may sound as very you know selfless in terms

[00:20:43] of not focusing on our own club but then at the end of the day till the time we are not there

[00:20:48] in the iLeague or the ISL or in the top tier for us it's a very natural thing to do is about

[00:20:53] creating players and feeding them to better clubs who have a better structure

[00:20:56] I think that's also a bit more sustaining in a model in Indian football rather coming to

[00:21:02] the whole Mumbai football scenario again yes the MFA has been doing stuff but

[00:21:08] I somewhere also feel that you know it's it's maybe it's not enough right because again

[00:21:15] it's also up to all of us all of us who play whatever role that we play in it

[00:21:21] to kind of build it and ground and I think the major problem is a ground facility and the ground

[00:21:26] availability in a city like Bombay as you can probably see that every part of the city is now

[00:21:32] dug up so that being the challenge how can one manoeuvre around it because it is a city with

[00:21:40] a lot of potential I mean we even take the neighboring districts for example like Athane

[00:21:46] or even Navi Mumbai for that matter you have a lot of more boundaries to kind of grow and have

[00:21:51] more potential and there should be more players from Mumbai coming out and playing whether it's

[00:21:55] for Mumbai or the other teams where do we where do you see that we are headed to and do you

[00:22:01] see it's in a good time right now as compared to before because like I said you've been there

[00:22:05] seen all of those through all these years so where are we right now with regards to football in Mumbai

[00:22:11] see I would say I mean to answer that question we'll have to break it down into parts yeah firstly

[00:22:16] we'll have to understand that the culture has exponentially increased the participation levels

[00:22:21] have increased from what participation used to be in grassroots sports to even amateur leagues

[00:22:26] like the senior men's and the senior women's teams the number of players who participate

[00:22:30] has increased the numbers of number of players who play the sport has increased tremendously

[00:22:34] and that's because of the fact that of course a lot of football is now being shown on TV we've

[00:22:38] multiple leagues not just the ISL the Premier League the La Liga so many other leagues that are

[00:22:42] being shown on TV and the fact that there is that excitement level and we are slowly inching

[00:22:47] towards a more culture which is more towards sport and especially football in this case and

[00:22:52] also amateur leagues have also contributed a lot to this happening so from a culture

[00:22:58] point of view yes it's been a tremendous growth from a participation point of view yes

[00:23:01] absolutely from an infrastructure point of view we've had infrastructure the problem is accessibility

[00:23:08] we're not getting accessible grounds at an affordable cost that's another issue

[00:23:12] so if we are able to somehow find ways in which we can get you know maybe schools rent

[00:23:17] their ground at an accessible cost or you know the problem is because all the schools or all

[00:23:21] the colleges or all in all of these facilities are doing are renting the ground for a multiple

[00:23:27] purpose maybe one of them is you know probably for a marriage or for a function and at the

[00:23:30] same time they're renting it out for football too what they fail to realize is a playing football

[00:23:35] for an hour or a few hours won't give you the same amount of revenue as for you know renting out

[00:23:41] for a marriage or a function somewhere they equate both yeah and then they realize okay I'm earning

[00:23:46] you know x amount from this you know I should earn the same amount of money from renting

[00:23:49] it out for a football ground too so somewhere I think what one or what these facilities need

[00:23:54] to understand is for the sport to grow the ground has to be at an accessible cost or at an

[00:23:59] affordable cost and it also needs to have accessibility so for example parking space or

[00:24:04] you know changing rooms all of these things are a mandatory thing for someone to play a sport

[00:24:08] like football so many of them have grounds but there is no parking space or there is no

[00:24:12] changing rooms and then you can't really go out and play it is not it is not actually

[00:24:17] promoting the sport in the right way so I feel from an association perspective also we've had

[00:24:22] some tough time with the fact that the parallel ground is not available yeah which was one

[00:24:25] of the key grounds for a lot of the matches that were held many years ago now that ground

[00:24:30] probably will be done by the next year early early next year once that ground is available

[00:24:34] we have one more ground which can take kind of take the load also what one needs to understand

[00:24:39] is the fact that since participation has exponentially increased there aren't enough

[00:24:43] grounds to kind of accommodate that load so once probably we'll have the parallel ground

[00:24:48] opened up and maybe one more ground then I'm sure that the number of leaks will have a

[00:24:52] more smooth functioning and we will not have irregularity in the scheduling also the scheduling

[00:24:56] will also become better yes and one more thing I would like to tell also is about the fact that

[00:25:01] if you see at an MFA level a lot of the things that are done are voluntarily done even right from

[00:25:06] the committee members to everyone they're on a voluntary basis they don't really get even paid

[00:25:10] in honorarium for their work so what happens is one realizes is the fact that you need

[00:25:15] more people if it's voluntary based right I mean everyone's not accountable because for

[00:25:20] a fact that they're not getting paid so everyone's taking time out of whatever their schedule is

[00:25:24] and giving it out for the sport so you may need more and more people if this is the same model

[00:25:28] that gets adopted for the next many years then we will need more and more people coming in and

[00:25:32] chipping in their time or probably chipping in their resources so that then it becomes

[00:25:37] more easier for work things to get done so that's one thing I thought I think probably

[00:25:42] I'll request everyone if they have time to come to the association maybe on a weekend

[00:25:46] I mean association as in Neville does the ground on the Cooper's ground on a weekend or a weekday

[00:25:50] and see how they can contribute to the sport growing maybe they can do refereeing or maybe

[00:25:55] they can be part of the volunteering team or maybe they can be part of the administrative team

[00:26:00] anything that they actually would want to contribute to again for a fact that

[00:26:04] MFA doesn't really have that you know corpus or use corpus to hire a lot of people

[00:26:11] but they are they are open to hiring the number of personnel that they have hired in the last many

[00:26:16] years or we have hired as considerably increased but it's still not enough I would say we need more

[00:26:21] people to come in and work and also more people to come in and volunteer like how it's in Japan

[00:26:25] or many other countries as well but people actually come in and volunteer so sometimes your

[00:26:29] parents coming in and doing refereeing which is fantastic because that actually saves cost on

[00:26:33] the referees unfortunately here it's not done it doesn't happen so we need a referee a

[00:26:38] lineman another referee a fourth referee a physio these are again all costs at the same time how do

[00:26:44] we absorb these costs ensuring that still the entry fee remains at a lower cost it's affordable for

[00:26:49] all is a challenge every year we face that challenge but we're trying to kind of resolve

[00:26:53] it over the next few years so I've heard this like I think many other state associations are

[00:26:58] running on on everything and there's nothing much coming that they are taking home rather and

[00:27:02] it's more of yes passion or whatever that they are trying to do whatever is in their capacity so how do

[00:27:08] you think how can state associations get their investment where does that come there's a government

[00:27:14] player role or does the private sector player role where do you see that state associations

[00:27:20] technically I mean investment wise it's not like they'll get investment somewhere they have to

[00:27:24] create properties which actually or assets which actually help them for example if they're

[00:27:28] able to create a stadium of their own with stands which we are doing at Neville right now the

[00:27:32] stands that's getting created outside if there is ticketing that comes in maybe merchandise maybe

[00:27:38] we'll have to create some sort of digital assets as well probably the website has to become more

[00:27:42] better tickers on the website advertisement on the website advertisement on all the playing

[00:27:47] jerseys these are some ideas that need to be implemented and is that being discussed it

[00:27:51] is being discussed yes but then there are again the progress is slow yeah to be honest so it

[00:27:58] progress has to fasten up or hasten up because that is the only way this will get implemented it can

[00:28:03] get implemented in the next few years but as I said the progress is relatively slow which I feel

[00:28:09] with discussions and again and again putting those points will make will hasten up the process

[00:28:14] but the good thing is there is intent even though the progress is slow everyone in the

[00:28:18] committee is having that intent of actually developing only thing is they'll have to

[00:28:23] give more time towards it and it requires a lot of going to a lot of companies going to a lot of

[00:28:29] sponsors talking to them creating those sort of contacts and then you know all of these things

[00:28:34] need to be done this is not being done on a regular basis this has to be done and that is the way

[00:28:38] things can progress what is the next like we are almost ending the year I mean just a couple

[00:28:45] of weeks away and what is it for you personally because you also entered the field of I mean

[00:28:51] you know the manager role for a club that's playing in volleyball league right they were

[00:28:57] defending champions and prominent side how are you kind of managing things across these different

[00:29:04] levels and what is next for you in the coming year see basically firstly it's actually my company

[00:29:09] that handles Sambabha defenders which is Porco and we have a team at transit so kind of it

[00:29:15] helps me to kind of ensure that I'm able to manage the workload for me on a personal level

[00:29:21] this year has been pretty much a very good learning I got a chance to be the manager for

[00:29:25] the Mumbai team then the Maharashtra team and football followed it up with the Amdabad defenders

[00:29:30] which I was already since a few years so on a personal level I felt this year I got to learn

[00:29:34] a lot of things under many coaches their style of you know philosophy or their style of play

[00:29:40] and all of those things also something that I got to learn from them also I personally feel

[00:29:45] that there are many things I could accomplish on a personal level that I could do this year

[00:29:52] on a professional front in terms of say the YPL or something I would probably want to do it even

[00:29:57] more better in the years to come but it's it's still a work in progress so I'm not really

[00:30:02] very disheartened about it but as I said on a personal level on a professional level I'm

[00:30:06] pretty pretty satisfied with this year with the Mumbai team especially I would like to you know

[00:30:11] state this or quote this thing that happened is the fact that we've been doing YPL for the last

[00:30:16] four years and now we've kind of seen the fruits of doing the league the UA President League where we

[00:30:21] had our players in the under 15 category last year playing around 30 matches of 70 to 90 minutes

[00:30:27] each and they were coming in with a lot of minutes under their belt so when they played the

[00:30:33] district league Mumbai won all their matches they scored a whooping 25 goals and they

[00:30:38] considered 0 which is incredible for the under 15 team I mean a lot of the credit goes to even

[00:30:44] Sameer who was the coach for the team along side me from Mumbai City but what I felt is that really

[00:30:50] showed the ability of our players at the top level even for example when Maharashtra under 15

[00:30:55] when we had gone to Odisha and Aghi from Hane City was the coach along with Parag what we

[00:31:00] realized is there as well if you see for example the players whom we had we had a very

[00:31:06] considerably very young team because the district competition was for the 2009 and 10 one and the

[00:31:11] national football championship or the NFC that happened was for 2008 and 2009 one okay so

[00:31:17] it was basically a change in the birth you know the age category later on but then we had a

[00:31:22] discussion and we also suggested us that you go with an young team and let's see what happens

[00:31:26] we won against Karnataka in the first game and we narrowly missed out on qualification against

[00:31:32] Sharkant we lost 1-0 so we felt that in that too they got a penalty in the 44th minute but we

[00:31:37] realized that our players actually have the potential and because of the continuous game time

[00:31:41] now they're getting at the structure it's changing yeah and it's not a change that can happen

[00:31:46] in about a year but it's a change that happening in the last two three years I think this will

[00:31:49] only get better because the more matches these players play across the year probably around

[00:31:53] 30 to 35 games cumulative in a calendar year for sure they'll improve and that's already

[00:31:59] happening yeah so I think that was one of the learnings I had that no things things take time

[00:32:03] it's not that even in football specifically and everyone looks at quick results probably okay

[00:32:08] now we are doing this tournament what is the result now we realize okay ypl happened from 2018

[00:32:14] 19 20 21 was a break 21 22 we started ypl again 21 22 most of the other districts hadn't

[00:32:21] started their youth league we had a you know you could probably say lead for the other districts

[00:32:26] and that actually resulted in a better showcase when we played in a district competition so that is

[00:32:31] something we kind of understood and realized and it's going to only become better and as you

[00:32:36] mentioned the we're into a new year now what's what's next for Siddharth also what can we expect from

[00:32:42] CFCI so one of the things for I'll answer CFCI first and then probably go to myself and

[00:32:48] so at CFCI we are playing the elite division this year I mean we're doing decently well

[00:32:53] probably we're looking at a top five top six kind of a finish after that maybe the next year we want

[00:32:58] to better it up at a CFCF front we would want to expand our academies go to you know widen our

[00:33:04] horizon go to more places we've been working very closely with the Ratnagiri district football

[00:33:08] association in Konkan area where we're trying to find more players from probably rural areas too

[00:33:13] we want to widen our horizon we want to reach out to as many players as possible

[00:33:17] maybe a few more academies we want to build and also we are looking actively at Gujarat

[00:33:22] as one of the other potential areas where we can find talent so we may expand to Gujarat on a on a

[00:33:28] serious note and that's what we would want to do on a CFCF front on a personal level of course I

[00:33:33] would want to as I say probably strengthen the structure at the youth level even more

[00:33:39] especially the progression of players or you know identification of players from YPL to a senior

[00:33:45] team has to become more better so I would want probably the under 17 players who are playing

[00:33:49] YPL they should at age 18 or 19 end up playing the elite division it's it's very much required

[00:33:55] because what is happening is you I personally feel and I know many may not agree with me on this probably

[00:34:00] but I personally feel that you know after 25 or 26 playing the elite division is probably not

[00:34:06] with an ambition to make a career in the sport it's just to probably that the fact

[00:34:09] that they enjoy the game and sustain I'm not against them playing but I would personally

[00:34:14] want all the elite teams as much as possible to give youngsters around the age group 18 19 20

[00:34:19] 20 even a chance to play we really need to lessen the age that plays in the top tier

[00:34:24] absolutely because we can't really have a player making his debut at the top most

[00:34:28] year in Mumbai football it is 24 it's too late he's missed the bus yeah so probably I would

[00:34:32] want it to come down somewhere as young as 17 18 I know it's it's little difficult but it has

[00:34:38] to happen because you see world across across the world you see players making a debut

[00:34:43] you know right from the top most talent making debuts for you know clubs you know at 17 18 16

[00:34:49] and in India one of my players in the school where I kind of coached sometimes he asked me a

[00:34:54] very interesting question he told me that you know what sir I am 14 right now and he played

[00:34:59] for Maharashtra and I was very intrigued by the question he asked me he told me I'm 14 right

[00:35:04] now and why is it that I have to wait till 20 to play elite why can't I play it at 17 16 why is it

[00:35:11] that I have to then why why is it that he mentioned Phil Forden for example making a debut so early on

[00:35:19] in his age and why can't I be a Phil Forden for India why do I need to wait till 18 or 19 to make

[00:35:24] a debut and that has to fast in yeah I mean I understand if he's not part of an AFF elite

[00:35:29] academy or if he's not part of a development center or something like he has to still find a

[00:35:33] way to somehow force him into the scheme of things by 18 19 so that India has a potential player at

[00:35:39] 2021 and then he gets at least 10 or 12 years of you know a footballing career that he can look forward

[00:35:44] to because right now if you see even the average age for players making debuts 24 25

[00:35:50] then they may get an injury or something and then they really have enough years to play

[00:35:53] yeah that's something that has to improve yeah no I think it absolutely makes sense and I think

[00:35:58] it's a very good note to end on yes it's a question that we're ending on but for those who are listening

[00:36:03] to this I think the larger perspective of the Indian football audience and I like to believe that there

[00:36:09] are more than just fans listening to the show there are many kind of people different gonna

[00:36:12] stay holders it's a very valid question for a young man for a young boy to ask that why do

[00:36:18] I have to wait for so many years and if he's good enough if he's play the district why

[00:36:22] I think also having a robust scouting system is also a need of the hour where everyone kinds of

[00:36:28] scums and seas you know there's potential there is talent but there's also needs to be someone

[00:36:32] sporting those talent to tell the other guys so hopefully with all the developments that

[00:36:36] happened in the recent times and with all your work and hard work effort that you're putting

[00:36:40] in personally will bear fruit I think it's a slow process we really have to trust the process

[00:36:46] here um and make sure we're all doing what we can do in that in the meantime but so that

[00:36:52] thank you so much this was I think maybe like it can be as a teaser or a trailer for the big movie

[00:36:57] kind of a thing but I feel this was a very good elaborative brief you can call whatever a great

[00:37:03] episode to just even if you're touching the surface level but again understanding of what

[00:37:08] CFCI doing what you are doing and how the Mumbai football is shaping up our different

[00:37:12] categories and different leagues so thank you so much again for taking time and doing

[00:37:16] this with me thank you thank you really appreciate it had a fun time thanks yeah

[00:37:20] to all the lovelessness this was that's about the I hope you enjoyed the episode so please do like

[00:37:25] and share yeah it's not on youtube but you can like it you can also add it to your library

[00:37:30] share with people your friends so everyone who wants to know about Mumbai football I think

[00:37:34] this is the episode that you should be sharing we are available on all the audio leading

[00:37:37] platforms so thank you once again I think we have one more episode before we break for the

[00:37:43] year so I will keep my wishes for the next episode thank you so much so that once again

[00:37:47] and thank you very much