East is East

No one knew where they stood but they sure stood their ground. When East Bengal became the first Indian club to win a Pan-Asian football tournament in 2004, Indian football stuck a foot into the Asian scene. Suddenly, Indian football had a face in a country where it has massive localised following, but has been ravaged by politics, lack of infrastructure and poor funding. Now this club from Kolkata is trying to turn things around, says IBN Correspondent Rudraneil Sengupta.

It is early morning and a day before a crucial Kolkata league match. Former coach Subhash Bhowmik is the first to arrive at the training ground. It will be a tough training session beginning with warm-ups and conditioning under the watchful eyes of Ronodeep Moitra.

Moitra is India's only strength and conditioning specialist, and one of the many changes the team have brought in following international practises.

"East Bengal is forward-looking not only in terms of drills but also recognising players need," says Moitra.

The club now boasts of everything that a football club needs — physical trainers for the players, a Jacuzzi, a high-tech gymnasium. However, all this would not have been possible without the backing of liqour baron Vijay Mallya, whose Kingfisher brand is also the official sponsor of the club.

East Bengal, now re-branded Kingfisher East Bengal, is not stopping at this. They are working for land to set up a new stadium.

The players, too, realise that the onus is now on them to take Indian football to a respectable level. "Right now no other club in India has what EB has," says the stocky star winger Alvito D'Cunha with pride.

Defender Anit Ghosh has completed almost a decade in national level football and has been with Kingfisher East Bengal for the better part of his career. It is only now that he realises what it means to be a footballer at the highest level.

"The infrastructure is very good we have everything that we need and now we’re thinking like professional footballers," says Anit. In return, he is determined to push himself to the limit.

Kingfisher East Bengal is fighting all odds to bring in proffesionalism into a game that has been neglected in India. And in their own small way are taking Indian football a step further than where it is. So is Kingfisher East Bengal the future of Indian football?

The players have no doubt about it.