No place to groom

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As Pune FC enter Chirag’s home turf in Kochi on Sunday, a few familiar names in the visitor’s dugout will make home fans sit up. Shahin Lal and Karma Tsewang were two boys who learned the trade here before switching over.

It was in Viva Kerala (former name of Chirag) that the two now-professional footballers started their careers, one as a goal keeper and the other as a winger.

After proving their mettle with Viva, the boys were snatched up by the ‘red lizards’ and all Chirag can do now is watch these gentlemen who have evolved as worthy assets in the Pune team, turn up against them on the field.

The 23-year-old Karma was a regular in the Chirag squad after he finished school in Ootty along with colleague C.S. Sabeeth and likewise 22-year-old Shahin from Kozhikode began his foray into football with Chirag.

While this is a global phenomenon, as it happens at every level of football, where rival clubs buy your talents and reap the benefits — there is a striking difference in this case. Chirag and most other I-League clubs do not have academies.

“Both Shahin and Karma became footballers with us and seeing them play in a professional set up makes us happy. But only if we had an academy, could we have grown more young players like them,” said Bino George, assistant coach of Chirag.

Since their run with the I-League that started in 2009, Chirag has brought to light several young and talented footballers such as Denson Devdas, Sabeeth and Mohammed Shafi, despite not having an academy. And with every season they have lost them to rich clubs.

“Having a youth academy is a big advantage for us. Our U-15 and U-17 teams comprise of local players. When it reaches the U-19 stage, we bring in players from other states.

The competition also makes them improve and we can have good players — to choose from amongst our youth —go to the senior team and this process never dries out,” said Pune FC coach Derrick Pereira.

This problem however is not just with Chirag, but in general, throughout Kerala. Despite producing several fine footballers, the state does not have a single academy for the game. Kerala Football Association (KFA) president K.M.I Mather accepts the bitter truth.

“Till the U-14 level our boys are equally good as those elsewhere in the world, but afterwards we have no place to train or groom them and the talent stagnates,” said Mather.