Karnataka footballers take ISL by storm

Bengaluru: Football is thriving again in Karnataka, and the most compelling indicator of this welcome development is the presence of 11 players from the state featuring in various clubs in the Indian Super League, the flagship event of the sport in the country.

Once home to many a memorable tussle between iconic clubs ITI and HAL from the 1970s to the early 2000s, Karnataka is now seeing a vibrant resurgence, a second footballing dawn, signified by a commitment to nurturing talent from a young age.

Midfielder Amoes Do was the sole Karnataka player among ISL squads in 2017. Seven years later, the state is witnessing the likes of Bengaluru's Vinith Venkatesh – the youngest player in the current ISL season – make appearances for the Bengaluru FC Senior team and contribute handsomely.

Among the others from Karnataka across ISL squads for the ongoing season are Vinith’s team-mates Shreyas Ketkar and Nikhil Poojary; Chennaiyin FC trio Vignesh Dakshinamurthy, Praful Kumar YV and Vishal Ravi; NorthEast United duo Ankith Padmanabhan and Macarton Louis Nickson; Kerala Blasters’ Som Kumar and Mumbai City’s Sanjeev Stalin and Ahan Prakash.

On digging deeper, the core reasons for state players permeating through to the first teams of ISL clubs can be attributed to a robust age-group and local league system that encourages more matches, well-equipped academies and top-calibre coaches, and the growing roots of Karnataka clubs present across different league divisions in India.

Ankith, son of former India international Padmanabhan, went from playing in the BDFA Super Division and Santosh Trophy to an ISL side in just 11 months. The 23-year-old forward talked about taking rapid developmental strides after turning pro and making the most out of opportunities.

“A majority of Bengalurean footballers are talented. Vinith, Mac (Louis Nickson) were at the BFC academy from a young age and they know what it takes to become a professional because that is where professional football starts. Players like me, we just tried to prove ourselves in all the big stages.

"Where you prove yourself matters. For example, in Santosh trophy, you can play a good game and many I-League and ISL clubs are looking for players there. In (BDFA) Super Division, there are I-League second-division clubs. Play in the second division, I-League clubs are looking at you. All the matches are streamed live. You just need to keep performing,” Ankith detailed.

“If your state league is good, automatically the competition and interest will increase, and more local players will come up. KSFA have been good at organising such tournaments, everything is planned perfectly. There are lots of grassroots tournaments going on, this is very important for players to grow. From there they scout them for sub-junior, junior national tournaments.” Ankith said.

Another positive indication of Karnataka’s growing scope in football is that clubs from the state are placed across several tiers of India’s leagues. Bengaluru FC plays in the ISL, Sporting Club Bengaluru has qualified for the I-League, clubs like Kickstart FC and FC Bengaluru United feature in the I-League second division, while HAL plays in I-League 3.

All India Football Federation’s Deputy Secretary General M Satyanarayan, who served a four-year term as the Karnataka State Football Association’s General Secretary, spoke about the crucial role the Karnataka Youth Premier League plays in generating a pipeline of talent.

“When we have a team which has won the Santosh Trophy and been in the semifinal for the last two to three years, we are a part of the top four in the country. The yardstick for success is the number of players from the state in the ISL.

“We have 50 teams from under-7 to under-15 and all of them play 20 games each (in Youth Premier League). A minimum of six players in the starting XI must be from Karnataka, and this provides chances to local players. The target was to give them more game time and the result is that we have one of the best youth teams in the country," Satyanarayan said.

Karnataka won the Tier-1 Sub-junior boys’ National Football Championship and finished runners-up in the Swami Vivekananda U-20 Men’s National Football Championship. The girls’ sides too have qualified for the Tier-1 age-group tournaments.

The influence of academies such as Bengaluru FC’s youth programme, which provided eight players to the state’s sub-junior team, is visible. Academies of other clubs like Kickstart FC, Roots FC and Sporting Club Bengaluru have also contributed to the cause.

Satyanarayan pointed out how most of the kids present in such academies hail from financially well-off families that push the kids into the sport.

“There was a time when our sub-junior and junior state teams used to get boys from these footballing pockets like Austin Town, Murphy Town, Kalyan Nagar and Cox Town. Now players that come from financially affluent families have been playing for 8-9 years in these academies which have good facilities."

Undoubtedly, it is down to the senior figures to nurture the young crop through the developmental years. 29-year-old Poojary has been playing in the ISL for five years now and touched on the need for guidance and his active role.

“In the last three years, there has been a change in the set-up, and I hope the players keep coming. I have a good relationship with the young players. I always needed that shoulder and my seniors were there. Now, I know they need me, and I am always there for them,” Poojary said.

Sanjeev, a member of the Indian U-17 World Cup squad, wants the players coming through to have lofty aspirations.

“Karnataka has so much talent, the only thing is I want them to aim even higher because the potential is huge. It is always a proud feeling to have more players from your state playing in the top leagues,” Sanjeev said.