The District Cup, page 18
‘You will have to excuse me. I have to take my son to a behaviour therapist later today,’ said Siraj without hesitation, having finally embraced the truth about his child. Only some months ago, he’d been sitting at that very table, trying to convince a father to accept his son for who he was. And yet, he’d struggled to to do so himself. Time and Lubna’s courage had helped him come through. `We’ve managed to get an appointment for this evening after much difficulty.’
‘I understand.’ Mandar nodded. ‘But anyway, we can’t have a small dinner. The selection is a big deal. We must do something befitting the occasion. We’ll put up a big screen here and call the whole team! Kids, parents, coaches, everyone—we’ll watch the World Cup finals together!’
Prithvi’s eyes grew large. Baba? From threatening to throw away the television, to organizing a big-screen bash, his father had come a long, long way. ‘Thank you, Baba!’ He threw his arms around Mandar. ‘You’re the best baba in the whole world!’
Head resting on his father’s shoulder, his mother rubbing his back, Prithvi’s eyes caught sight of the hoarding outside the store. In the advertisement on the billboard, a little boy was laughing, his family gathered around him, as they all enjoyed a bar of chocolate. Its tag line summed up the mood of the moment.
Kuch meetha ho jaye!
Glossary of Terms
Those who follow football: Go straight ahead and dive into the book. Hope you enjoy the read!
Those who aren’t that much into football: Here’s a little glossary of terms to help you enjoy the book.
1. Terms related to the team:
a. Defender–Defenders play at the back and stop the opposition from scoring a goal. Defenders can be on the left, right and/or centre and are accordingly called left-back, right-back and centre-back.
b. Goalie–A goalie or a goalkeeper stands at the goalpost to stop the opposition from scoring a goal. A goalkeeper is the only player who can touch the ball with his/her hands.
c. Midfielder–A midfielder plays in the middle which is a key position in moving the ball from the back to the front of the field.
d. Striker/Forward–A striker, also known as a centre-forward, plays in the front and their main role is to score a goal.
e. Starting 7–The seven players who begin the game in a U-13 game. In an adult’s game, each team has eleven players and is hence played by 11 versus 11. Children though, play in various combinations, starting from 5 versus 5 to 9 versus 9 to 11 versus 11.
f. Substitute–Substitutes come on later in the game to replace players who come off the field. In the case of younger players, rules allow for rolling substitutes, so players can be sent in and substituted several times in a game.
g. Winger–Wingers play on the side and their job is to create a goal-scoring chance. A team will have a right-winger and a left-winger on the right and left flanks.
2. Terms related to fouls:
a. Foul–A foul is an act by a player that interferes with the game.
b. Free-kick–Method of re-starting play after a foul has been committed by one team, by awarding a kick to the opposing team.
c. Penalty kick–A chance awarded to the attacking team after being fouled inside the penalty area, to score a goal defended only by the goalie.
d. Red Card–The referee gives a red card to a player who commits a foul on purpose to prevent a goal scoring chance or that causes serious injury to another player. The player given a red card must immediately leave the field.
e. Yellow Card–The referee gives a yellow card as a warning to a player who commits a foul on purpose, but which is not severe. A player must leave the field if he/she gets two yellow cards in the same game.
3. Other game-related terms:
a. Corner-kick–Method of re-starting play after the ball has been kicked out of the goal-line after last touching a player of the defending team.
b. Goal-kick–Method of re-starting play after the ball has been kicked out of the goal-line after last touching a player of the attacking team.
c. Kick-off/Centre-start–Method of starting a game at the beginning and at half-time; and re-starting the game after a goal is scored.
d. Off-side rule–an attacker must have at least one opposing player (apart from the last man) ahead of him/her when the last assisting pass is made before scoring the goal.
e. Penalty box/D–Rectangular box in front of the goal, within which the goalie can handle the ball. A foul by the defending team in this zone results in the attacking team being given a penalty.
f. Throw in–Method of re-starting play after the ball has gone out through the sideline.
4. Terms related to strategy and play:
a. Bicycle kick–Method of scoring where a player is airborne and kicks the ball. in the opposite direction to which he/she is facing, making them appear like they are cycling upside down.
b. Body feints–Tricking the opponent by moving in a way that is different from what is expected. A shoulder drop or shoulder feint is one such trick.
c. Dribbling–Taking the ball forward along the ground by making repeated small touches.
d. Falling-back–When players must run back to defend.
e. Marking–Organized defensive tactic that prevents an attacker from scoring.
f. Passing–Transfer of the ball from one player to another of the same team.
g. Scissor kick–Method of scoring where a player jumps backward in the air and kicks the ball when it is above his head.
h. Sombrero–Flicking the ball over the opponents’ head and taking control of it from the other side.
i. Step-over–Moving the foot over the ball in order to deceive the opponent.
j. Wrong-footing–Deceiving an opponent by throwing them off-balance and moving in a different direction from what is expected.
5. Other terms used in the book:
a. 2v2 drills–Drills involving two attackers playing two defenders.
b. ‘Around-the-world’ and Pancake–Tricks where one brings the foot around the soccer ball while juggling.
c. Group of death–A group comprising the strongest teams.
d. Juggling–Tossing the ball in the air and keeping it continuously airborne.
c. Play under protest–Playing a game after lodging a protest against the opposition, and paying a fee for making the complaint.
d. Rondo–Football drill where a group of players try to retain possession of the ball, while another group tries to take it away.
Acknowledgements
For setting my kids, and consequently me, off on this footballing journey, thank you Udayan Ganguly, Prof. at IIT Bombay, who expended great efforts to take the beautiful game to campus kids.
Thank you Sajjad Alam and Riyaz Razi, coaches at TSA in Mumbai, for being such wonderful teachers to my children and getting them absolutely hooked to the game. If you haven’t guessed already, your names have been fused to form Siraj, the name of the coach in the story.
To all the wonderful kids who’ve played with my sons over so many years (too many names to recount here but you know who you are), and to their parents—thank you. Many of our conversations and experiences have formed the raw material for this book.
Thanks are due to several others too.
• Many thanks Akarsh Sharma, journalist and writer, whose articles on the issue of age-cheating, and a detailed chat gave me a ton of inputs. Those interested in reading Akarsh’s piece, can check out Indian Football’s Age of Deceit at www.livemint.com; and https://caravanmagazine.in/sports/systematic-age-fraud-threatens-future-indian-football
• Many thanks Nandan Kamath, GoSports Foundation, for responding to a stranger with no background in sports, and for the lightning speed at which you read and reviewed my manuscript, and for your constructive inputs and encouraging words.
• In the same vein, thank you Richard Hood, former head of player development at AIFF, for entertaining questions from a complete nobody in football and discussing your experience in tackling the problem of age fraud within the system.
• Thank you Ranjit Bajaj, CEO, Minerva Punjab, passionate to a fault about Indian football, for responding so openly and taking time out from your hectic schedule to provide me with a bird’s eye view of the systemic problems.
• Thank you Dennis Fernandez from India Rush and Sajjad Alam from TSA, Mumbai, for explaining facets about running a football academy and structural aspects related to the game in India.
• Many thanks Rahul Mehra, advocate at the Supreme Court, New Delhi, for talking to me about your legal crusade with sports associations.
• Thank you Satyajit Sadanandan, Vignesh Avarekad, Sagar Gurung, Prashant Giri and Denzil Arambhan, for sharing experiences from your playing days.
• Thank you Brishti Bagchi and Maitreyi Ananth for sharing your experience as female players.
• Thank you Samidha Dhongade for sharing the dilemma of a parent raising a child with sporting talent.
• To my meetings and chats with Harry Fernandez and Jeet Oraon, both football referees, I owe my brief understanding of a referee’s challenges. Thank you both for your time and honesty.
• Thank you Neeraj Kholiya, Techtro UP, and Prakash Ghosh, Prof. at IIT Bombay, for giving me a peek into problems in small towns.
• Thanks also due to Tiago Coelho, Peter, Adam, Thomas Joseph and other coaches and trainers my children have interacted with. Directly or indirectly, you have contributed to my understanding of the game.
• Thank you Bakul Uncle, for giving me a glimpse into the daily grind of running a sweet and farsan store.
• Thank you Advait Raghunath, budding sports-lawyer and avid football-buff, for detailed feedback on the sports-scenes.
• Thank you Lakshmi Vaidyalingam, dearest friend and keenest editor, for your fine inputs.
Several books, autobiographies, news articles, blogposts and podcasts have helped me understand this subject better. They are too many to enlist here. Those interested in the sources (and other aspects related to the journey of this book) may check out my website www.mallikaravikumar.com.
A big thank you to my editor Arpita Nath at Puffin Books for believing in the story.
Thank you Amma, Appa, my late Athai, my father-in-law and Shashi for the ever-present support and encouragement. My writing journey would not have been possible without all of you.
No words can express my gratitude to my children—Kabir and Karthik—who have critically reviewed every scene, and helped me from ideating to editing, and whose unfailing passion and unfading energy for the game fuel a spark of footballing interest in everyone around them.
THE BEGINNING
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Puffin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
This collection published 2022
Text copyright © Mallika Ravikumar 2022
Illustrations copyright © Govinda Sao 2022
Jacket images © Isha Nagar
This digital edition published in 2022.
e-ISBN: 978-9-354-92812-3
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Mallika Ravikumar, The District Cup
