Kerala XI to go places

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Talk to the golden generation of football lovers in Kerala and they will acquaint you with the pride they derived from winning a Santosh Trophy.

The last time they felt the euphoria was when Sylvester Ignatious netted the golden goal, winning 3-2 against Punjab in 2004.

Since then it has been a freefall from fame to a state of disregard as in recent years Kerala has failed to even make it to the quarterfinals.

Many blamed it on the lack of adequate preparation prior to the tournament. While at least 40 days were seen as conventional preparation time in recent years, the team was put together only about three weeks in advance.

All that is likely to change now as the Kerala Football Association has decided to give more practice hours to its Santosh Trophy probables. For the first time in its history, the Kerala XI will play in other national level tournaments.

“We have decided to prepare real hard for the Santosh Trophy and the only way to do it is to ready our team much in advance of the tourney,” said P. Anil Kumar, secretary of the Kerala Football Association.
Anil said that according to this revival plan, the state XI will play in the E. K. Nayanar Trophy and G. V. Raja Trophy, both national level events to be held in the state in the upcoming months.

The Nayanar Trophy is most likely to be first in line, to be played in Kozhikode, involving six teams from Bengal, Mumbai and Goa and two from the state, the sixth one being the I-League team of Chirag United Kerala.

The Santosh Trophy team for this year will be finalised only after the inter-district matches that will be held at Thiruvananthapuram in February. However, the Kerala XI participating in the two major tournaments will be the previous year’s team.

T. P. Dasan, former state council president and general convenor of the Nayanar Trophy says, “The participation of prominent teams from other states will only enrich the competition and that will be a great boost for the Kerala XI as the public will expect some passion from the state team.”

How they fare in the national tournaments is secondary, what matters the most is that some good thinking has finally come into rejuvenating Kerala football. Hopefully, the extra time the Kerala XI gets prior to the Santosh Trophy might help them find another golden goal and perhaps bring back the glory.