S R Khelkoodkar
With the football World Cup just over a month away, our sports journos have already turned their attention towards Germany. In fact, the build-up to the World Cup began almost a month ago, when there were 60 days to go for the tournament to begin.
The truth is that the build-up has begun too early. Even squads have not been announced yet, nor will be for the next two weeks. There is precious little World Cup related news that can be reported, because simply nothing related to it is happening. Domestic leagues and cups continue to be contested, but there is little that matters.
Each major newspaper has at least one full page only about football and the World Cup. Mostly it is about events out of World Cup history, facts and figures, statistics, and things like that, but there is also a section on current news that, naturally, proves to be the hardest to fill.
Unlike cricket, India is about as much to the periphery of world footballing activity as it is possible to be. Neither is news generated here, nor, for the most part, can the reporting be done from here. So we find that our own journos are relegated to writing Did You Know pieces while the news comes from foreign press agencies.
Fair enough, but when you cannot decide on what stories to print, you are simply at the mercy of what you get from outside. And the consequent lack of quality control means that you get, unfortunately, other people`s opinions, a certain degree of bias, and sometimes just plain error.
There is no question but that World Cup (in fact, football) coverage in India is dominated by news of the English football team. So much so that, if I may misuse an old adage, if the English coach sneezes then the entire local media catches a cold.
Note, therefore, the overwhelming coverage given to the latest tragedy to befall English football. Their main striker and lynchpin, Wayne Rooney, suffered a rather substantial foot injury in a game last week, and may miss the World Cup. Even if he does recover, it will not be until the later stages that he can possibly play.
This is important news, doubtless, for any sort of football fan. But I must say that stories on how devastated the other English players feel as a result of this hardly make for top level coverage. Nor do the private concerns of the coach qualify as news. Unless you are a die-hard England supporter, it simply does not matter.
Mind you, the point I am making not that the stories are bad. They have been written for an English readership, and echo a national concern. But for these stories to be directly reprinted here assumes that all Indians feel the same way about the English team as the English do. Something not necessarily obvious, perhaps.
Note also the huge attention given to the possible appointment of England`s next football coach after the World Cup. Luis Felipe Scolari, current Portugal coach and Brazil`s coach when they won last time around, was widely tipped for the job. All presses went out of their way to analyse what this appointment would mean for English football. Expert opinions were sought and forecasts and predictions were made, almost taking his appointment for granted.
The next day Mr Scolari declined the offer. Immediately we were inundated with reports on this, and after a pause for breath, with reports on who now might take over the job - all with articles taken from agencies. The about-turn showed up glaringly in our press, and all newspapers were identical.
Part of the blame, if you can call it that, must lie with TV coverage of football. With ESPN-Star having exclusive rights to telecast the English domestic league, that is pretty much all we get to see on TV. Other football gets little coverage.
That, too, would be fine if it were limited to telecast. It isn`t. Shows like Sportscenter, the ESPN sports news show, spend their footballing segments pondering English imponderables. The bug has spread, and even sports shows on channels like Zee Sports see it fit to dedicate themselves to the narrow realm of English football.
For those of us with wider football interests, there is little to choose from, whether it is in newspapers, or on TV.