Even as diehard football fans from across India keep wishing and praying (irrationally) that Indian football comes out of its deep slumber and begin to resemble a team that represents the most populous country in the world, the pathetic condition of the support system necessary to raise sporting standards was out on display – yet again – when the national team clashed with Qatar in the last FIFA World Cup qualifier held on June 12.
Disappointment and shock for fans and aspiring footballers began with no TV channel broadcasting the match and continued to pile, one on top of another, as the match progressed reaching a crescendo when a goal was conceded to Qatar even after every video and still camera in the stadium clearly recorded that the ball had crossed the line.
For a country boasting of more than a dozen TV channels dedicated to sports, not a single channel management thought it was important telecast the match live. While at least half of the Sports channels were telecasting the same T20 World Cup match, the remaining decided to focus on reruns of European League Football and club-level women’s hockey while the World Cup qualifier match with the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup was on. Even back in the 80’s and 90s, all matches played by the national team were telecast in Doordarshan as there were no sports channels back. So much for Khelo India!
For those of us who scrambled the web madly to get a streaming app and eventually landed at Fancode, which charged Rs. 25/- after the first 10 minutes of free streaming, the coverage and the commentary were largely amateur at best – Santosh Trophy coverage used to be better back in the 80’s and 90s.
Yet, football lovers were happy – India was leading 1 – 0 for a very long time and that was good enough especially after a lacklustre performance in all the previous qualifiers but one and with Sunil Chetri calling it a day just the other night.
But, in the 73rd minute of the game, Qatar midfielder Abdullah Alahrak’s free-kick saw Yousef Ayem attempt a header, which was saved by Indian captain and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. Even as Gurpreet lay on the ground eyeing the ball as it rolled over the line, Hashmi Hussein slid it back into play with Aymen slotting it into the net.
Since the ball had visibly rolled out of play — for everyone to see on screen — the game should have been stopped and then resumed with a corner-kick. But the referee awarded the goal to Qatar and despite the Indian team protesting vehemently, the on-field officials upheld his decision.
According to reports, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has officially submitted a complaint to the match commissioner requesting a detailed examination of the contentious goal that Qatar scored in the World Cup qualifier at Doha.
. “India was on the verge of scripting history. There has been a huge mistake in the refereeing. We all saw that the ball was out of the goal line. Why couldn’t the referee or the side referee (linesman) see it? It is something that needs to be investigated.”
AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey
Later, AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey told ANI that a significant error by the referee had cost India a historic opportunity. “It was a wrong decision made by the referee, and India was forced to face defeat because of that decision,” Chaubey stated. “India was on the verge of scripting history. There has been a huge mistake in the refereeing. We all saw that the ball was out of the goal line. Why couldn’t the referee or the side referee (linesman) see it? It is something that needs to be investigated.”
In a day and age when video footage is recorded for even local league cricket matches and consulting the footage for controversial decisions is becoming the norm everywhere, international match organisers putting up with human errors that could so easily have been avoided is beyond belief for anyone.
Even if not for the beautiful sport and the football crazy fans, whose numbers continue to rise across the country, the custodians of Sports in this vast nation should ensure that football at least gets it due for the millions of children who aspire to be the next Ronaldo and Messi – they don’t want to be a Raman Vijayan or Bhaichung Bhutia for most of them have never heard of or seen these players. And how would they? Even the national broadcasters do not bother to telecast crucial World Cup qualifiers and instead focus on re-runs of other popular sports events.