May 15th, 2019,
Amidst 40 degree centigrade where Boys and girl of various Age Category were playing the beautiful game inside NKDA stadium of Newtown Kolkata. A D Licence Coach from Manipur was giving his whole heart to train the little kids about the skills needed for being a pro player.
It is his 4th outing in AFC-AIFF Grassroots Programme, and for me, it was really a nice option to ask him few realistic questions
- Is the Grassroots Level Programme of AFC-AIFF really creating a difference ? or it is done only for the sake of being Done.
Kenedy thinks, Yes, off-course its making a huge impact , as if we take the example of Indian U-17 team, they played very well, and this is just because of the Grassroots Programme only. As in Grassroots Its starts from Age Group of 4 Years to 9 years and Amateur Football. Which is actually are the building blocks of a Footballer’s Life
2.What else Do you think AIFF needs to do to make this Programme more effective?
Kenedy thinks that AIFF needs to put lots and Lots of support.Financial Support is the most important thing,Physical level , AIFF is supporting .If AIFF can manage few god sponsors to help these programmes, then it will be a blessing for the kids participating
3.What do you think about the Kolkata Football Culture? Is it better than the North -East? Where would you rate Bengal Football enthusiasm?
I will rate 9.5/10. When I blamed him of “Politically correct”–Laughs—, He justifies his point by saying tat here he finds mainly The lower and Backward Class Boys are into football here . In North East Rich-Poor all are equally into football fever, This thing needs to be changed.
As a Conclusion Kennedy shows some positive and Negative glimpse about the Grassroots and from here we can expect Indian Football to go strength to strength