BRITISH FOOTBALL CLUB OFFERS
TO OPEN ACADEMY IN KOCHI
Many a
football fan from the previous generation has a tale or two to share about how
national and international players mesmerised them with their footwork as they
closely followed proceedings from the cramped, makeshift galleries, made of
casuarina wood, at Maharaja’s College Ground.Perhaps it is the city’s rich
football tradition, having produced players of the stature of C.C. Jacob,
former Indian International footballer, and the country’s first professional
club – FC Cochin, that has attracted football administrators and teams from
around the world to the city.
A
three-member team from the London-based Reading Football Club, which features
in the English Premier League, was the latest to visit the city under the Grass
Root and Youth Education Programme of the Kerala Football Association (KFA).The
team comprising Nigel Howe, CEO, Reading FC; Christopher Samuelson, director;
and Suresh Malkani, director, India operations, held discussions with GCDA
chairman N. Venugopal at his office on Monday afternoon. They also visited
Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Ambedkar Stadium, and the site for the
artificial turf sponsored by football’s world body FIFA at Kalamassery.Mr. Howe
said his club was willing to cooperate with KFA in developing football at the
grass root level if quality infrastructure was made available. The club also
agreed to extend its coaching and technical expertise to a football academy to
infuse the European culture of nurturing talent from a young age. The club
officials, however, declined to divulge more details saying it was only their
first visit and wanted to see what the city had to offer.
Mr.
Venugopal said the team was impressed with the facilities at the Ambedkar
stadium and international stadiums in the city.“They said they were looking for
training facilities for a proposed academy and a venue of international
standard for hosting matches. We told them that we could at best be a
facilitator for making available land for infrastructure development for which
an agreement could be entered into. The team left with the promise to return
with detailed plans.”Anil Kumar, KFA general secretary, who accompanied the
delegation, said the club expressed willingness to set up a football academy
for budding football talent if necessary infrastructure was provided. “They were
impressed with the Ambedkar stadium and are interested in developing it into a
training facility. They were also positive about taking young talent from the
proposed academy here to their parent academy and facilitate their training
with scholarship.
Prof. John Kurakar
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