|
||
|
|
|
|
Astrology
Chat
Cityscape
Classifieds
Entertainment
Health
Matrimonial |
|
| |||||||
| |||||||
  |
Kerala has a strong base in the case of football and the state has produced many leading players. The game has been patronised by organisations ranging from tiny village clubs to universities. Ajith, who had been an athlete in his school days, became a football player due to the presence of the Mannar Recreation Club in his native village. He was a member of the club and seniors like 'Balan Chetan' inspired him, and this inspiration helped him seek admission in Fathima College, Kollam, where there was a good football team. In his degree and PG days in Fathima College, Ajith represented Kerala University for three consecutive years from 1978. He won a gold medal as outstanding football player of the university in 1981. In the same year, he represented the junior state and senior national and played for the Santosh Trophy. In 1984, Ajith joined ONGC in the sports quota as junior superintendent. The appointment was in Assam and he represented ONGC's eastern region in tournaments. Ajith says, "At that time, ONGC had no sports policy, unlike at present." This, coupled with his growing age, forced him to quit the game, and he began to concentrate on official work.
Though past is past, I could not help imagine: Had Ajith remained in Kerala and exploited Kerala's strong football basis…! However, "As far as the profession is concerned, life in ONGC has always been positive and I am very happy," Ajith, who stays at Adayar with his wife Lathika and two children, Chippy and Akhil, says. Though he does not play now, Ajith keeps up his interest in the game and so he cannot help bewail: "It's a sad thing that in India football does not get the importance it deserves. Here we give importance only to organisers, not to players. This system should change and politics in the selection of players should go. Players should come as organisers." "Compared to Europeans, our physical strength is very low. We must have tactics to overcome this. Only a good coach can teach the tactics". "The coach should be one who has been a good player. It is so in Europe, not in India. In foreign countries, coaches are those who have played the game at the international level," he says. Ajith's Though it was a chance meeting, it was like meeting somebody whom I have been waiting for long: I was listening to my own thoughts on football and cricket, but from somebody who had been a player, unlike me. Salil Jose Readers' response/inputs can be e-mailed to salil@chennaionline.com.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||
I was experiencing
other shades of meanings of 'sportsman spirit' when I met former football player and senior officer in ONGC, Ajith Kumar Pillai, without prior appointment at his office in Egmore. I was given a patient half-an-hour amidst his busy work as manager (personnel and administration).
Ajith came to Chennai in 1991 and took active interest in the affairs of the officers' association in addition to the office work. When he came here, he was no more a player.
diagnosis of football in the country reaches the injuries the players are exposed to. "Once they are injured, our players seldom return to the game. It is not so in foreign countries. It is not so in the case of cricket in our country. Our football players don't get the support cricketers get. We should remember that football is a very popular game still though it does not get the media hype that cricket gets."
