Indian national team coach Stephen Constantine (L) with Vita Dani (C) and Marco Materazzi.With the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) seeing off its Auction & Draft for Season 2 last week, football fever has returned nationwide. Everyone is just waiting to see the legends and the rising stars of the domestic scene create wonders on the field, come October. And it was amidst this excitement that indiansuperleague.com caught up with the Indian national team coach Stephen Constantine who had some insightful views to share on the importance of the Hero ISL and grassroots football in India.Upfront, Constantine remarked how happy he was for Rino Anto, the right-back who went from his base price of Rs. 17.5 lakhs to a whopping Rs. 90 lakhs. “He’s had a very good [Hero] I-League season; he’s got his first international cap with us. Good to see players getting paid their value. I agree with Ashley [Westwood], I think he’s one of the best full-backs in the country, if not the best, and hopefully he continues to play well and play for the national team.”The experienced coach lauded the ISL for bringing more visibility to Indian football and had some words of advice on what the focus should also be on. “We need to do a lot of work on the grassroots level, especially the scouting system – which I’m starting. The Indian team has had some bleak years, but we’re getting there; a lot of work needs to be done. People want us to do better and we will take some time. But the ISL here is an excellent concept. I hope to see it grow and alongwith it, Indian football and obviously, the players.”Stressing on the grassroots efforts from a young age, he said, “Look, you need to start looking at them [the children] from the ages 5-6. The ISL grassroots initiative has a good U-13 programme. The younger you get them, the better their habits, mentality and footballing intelligence.”Constantine pointed out that our league system needs to be strengthened to a great extent – with the ISL and I-League already doing their bit at the grassroots level. But another main aspect indispensable to the future of Indian football is scouting and performance analysis.“Scouting is not something that simply anyone can do; it’s a science. You need to know the player, his tendencies, his position and what not. Our scouting system has already found 20-25 players for the U-17 World Cup squad, 5-6 for the U-19 and this is just the beginning. Scouts are the eyes of the coach - we didn’t have any but now we have 15-16. Derek [Bragg], a highly respected scout will be conducting a workshop with me in Goa this month for 35 scouts from India that will be a first of sorts. We’ll help them identify what to look for.”We hope Constantine’s strategy does work wonders for the game and for a nation of talented footballers!
