While watching the World Cup, I happened to wonder about India. More specifically, why has a former British colony with 1.1 billion citizens never been to the World Cup? Why has India’s soccer team never ranked higher than #110 (between soccer giants Hong Kong and New Zealand) in the last decade?
Then I checked out some of sports. With the exception of cricket and field hockey–at which they excel–India really struggles in most international sport. For example, in each of the last three summer Olymmpics, India earned exactly one medal.
Of course, they’re a poor country, but I must imagine that there are cultural barriers to participation in sports. Other, smaller developing nations do much better at popular international sports. Maybe there’s just a strong focus on indigenous sports? Does anybody have any insight?
DarrenBarefoot.com 
This is a just a shot in the dark: Perhaps India’s caste system is somehow to blame.
I suspect that ‘untouchables’ make up a sizable portion of the population, and that they are denied access to many opportunities (including sports opportunities) at which they might excel.
It’s the first thought that popped into my head (I cannot back this up with any thing!)
its not that
it could b cauz of the over importance given for cricket and hockey
ppl r so addicted 2 it
& ofcourse even the govt hardly does anything
government does nothing actually
and untouchables r a minority
no dude. There is n othing like that. They get a lot of opportunities .We have a system which is somewhat like Affirmative Action but only ten times more partial towards the minority
My 2 cents…
When I was getting around there, other than cricket, I didn’t see any other sports in the public conscienceness. I have seen on the BBC news network that they do have some people very good at wrestling, table tennis, and I seem to recall some pros in weightlifting.
Perhaps with the burgeoning middle class that’s growing in India, their sporting prescence will change in the years to come.
I think it depends not only on how much cultural significance is place on sports but on what kind of committments their government gives to the funding of sports. Australian friends of mine have told me that their government had made a lot of funding promises for sports (esp. prior to the Sydney Olympics) and…you just can’t take their friday “footie”(football) games from them….
Coming from around those parts, I can answer that question. Though opportunity exists, sports just doesn’t provide sufficient monetary reward for the mediocre and a dominant middle class society puts more emphasis on education rather than sports. Case in example: My ending up in U.S with an MBA and not choosing Badminton as a profession.
But India does have talent, just not enough money and encouragement for it.
Lalith Velidi.
With 1.1 billion people, it is extremely competitive, and all the attention is paid to Education. As Lalith says, sports (other than cricket) just does not have enough sponsorship, so there is less chance of a monetary reward.
Interesting, Lalith. I didn’t mean to imply that Indians weren’t talented. Clearly the government is spending its money elsewhere.
they dont spend elswer darren.they spend for themselves
To counter Lalith, I’m not sure that countries like Australia have a lot of sports players because they’re hoping to get a well-paid job out of it. I imagine (perhaps I should know, being Australian) that our government spends many times more on education than on sports. I think most Australians just do it for fun, and cause all their friends are doing it. So I’ll take the cultural line as well – it doesn’t take much money to find a soccer ball or cricket bat and play with friends. And anybody can start jogging.
The Indian govt probably sees no reason to fund sports which their people have no interest in, and since the cultural impetus isn’t there to start the other sports up they just don’t get going.
If I knew more about Johnny Warren and his effect on soccer in Australia in the 70s I would add something about how you need people like him to champion the development of a sport in a country before the people start getting involved and the govt starts funding it. Maybe that’s what India is lacking?
“This is a just a shot in the dark: Perhaps India’s caste system is somehow to blame.”
Huh..
Jeff, you seem to be a typical westerner with usual dose of prejudice.
If caste system is to blame them how come African-Americans do well in Sports in America. I suppose African Americans face discrimination similar to that ‘untouchables’ face in India, if not more.
Every country/culture has untouchables, Muslims are untouchables in Europe and African-Americans are untouchables in America.(In western context untouchables can be defined as ghettoised and marginalised people.)
It is much more complex than just caste system or government apathy towards sports.
Here are some reasons I can think of
1. Government Apathy
2. Lack of corporate sponsorship.
3. Parents giving more importance to education.
4. Climate, I am sure you wouldnt dare to play football in 100-120 °F temperatures.
My mom grew up in India and said that you don’t get a look in unless you are where they’re looking. Which was a veiled way of saying that they don’t look lower than the middle class. Now that football is globalized so much maybe India can catch up? I doubt it. Their national team is playing the Whitecaps next month…
I think India and Canada are similar in that few in the countries care about the sport, and if you do care you don’t have the facilities available to really get ‘good’ so you either give up or level out in terms of how far your talent can take you.
Since football isn’t in the culture per se, you don’t get much proper competition and you don’t get development as a result. You don’t get coaching and tactical awareness needed at the highest level.
Look at Iran v Mexico in the second half, the Mexican bloke made changes that the Iranians had no answer for. That’s a football culture versus Iranians who aren’t used to the Mexicans’ level of play (though the Iranians did well in the first half).
i want to add only one comment: interesting blog
& verry interesting comments.
To ‘counter Jarrod’s counter’ You do have a valid point there, but a Johnny warren is a lot easier to find in a continent/country with a population as Australia does, sometimes in the mele that India is, the talent just isn’t spotted and just withers away. And in response to your comment “Anyone can take up joggin” http://www.rediff.com/sports/2000/sep/08milka.htm
It just isn’t easy to track talent across a sub continent with 1.1 billion people in them and a distinct lack of encouragement from the government. Just my H.O.
cheers.
hi i definitely agree to lalith that there is no castesim which can be the reason for india not doing very well in sports .If you ask me then i would like to point on the recent facts that india is excelling in many sports like badminton ,wrestling, chess and tennis .give us the required amount of time and money and we will be somewhere in the sports arena.
i am doing a school assignment about the lack of soccer talent in my country india (lol). i’d like to highlight that the money reserved for sports…or anything for that matter, often fills the pockets of bureaucrats. 2nd, the country is divided into zones when it comes to soccer selection, and it is essential that a minimum no. of players are recruited into the teams from each zone…for instance, the east zone comprises of states of eastern india. thats bad. 3rd,(but i’m not sure about this)..like government recruitments, soccer players lying in the category of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are shown positive discrimination and there are seats alloted for them. i mean, there are given preference over other people in that matter. 4th, parents don’t feel that a full-time career in this game can provide economic security. the middle-class are especially inclined to think this way. like sania mirza suddenly shot to the top of mainstream rankings for tennis( now i’m talkin about tennis..lol)….it wasnt just because of her talent and hard-work but also because her parents supported her….came to supervise while she was being coached..and that was because she’s from a rich family and her father was able to take out time for supervising and motivating. people in india don’t see sports as a career…they dismiss it as a passion or part-time thingy. when the famous indian cricketer, kapil dev , was less known and a starter, his gf’s mum asked about what he did. when she got the answer…her exact reply was..”he plays cricket alright, but what does he do??”
To tell you the truth it is all psychological. I am 19 years old and born in the great US of A to two very Indian parents. I was raised to just read, read, read, do some math, and read some more…And I hated it with a passion. Indian parents don’t know how sports calculate into American childhood and they neglect it. I truely do hate India and the Indian mantality that education is the most important thing in the world. It actually comes from education being the only way for most middleclass or low class people in India to get ahead. This is then compounded over generations to build up a defeatist attitude towards any type of phyiscal competition. The one thing that pissed me off the most is when my father laughed at me when I wanted to wrestle in high school and also when he made me quit the football team because it was a waste of time. Indians don’t know about comradery and the brotherhood of teams. Indians are all about pitting the their own people against each other for jobs that pay for the basic needs of life.
In short and to the point, India has long spent its centuries trying to become something great but when the British made them their “bitch” they now stumble through the decades trying to build their country to its once great self. Indians have become weak and affraid of physicality and this may never change if they keep their noses in the books they wont have a viable olymic team for another 100 years.
football is a highly competetive sport. But the general indian character is away from competitive sport, at least till now. It has nothing to do with caste system. If fifa spends some more money to popularize this sport in India in the future they will find a big market and a promising football nation.
THe thing which almost everyone overlooked is that indians are generally plagued by laziness…
( ofcourse exceptions are always there )
2ndly,indians are in the habit of seeing results within a short span of time only…they generally lack the patience to see the results over years,whereas in sports ,the desired results are not so easy to get;it requires hours of consistent hardwork,intrinsic as well as extrinsic motivation,economic stability and so many other things…..but at the same time ,it’s again a truth that if indians decide to do something with full focus,then there is no end to their success.One more important thing that evryone forgot to mention is that indian sports are governed by politicians,bureaucrats who do not even have the knowledge of the basics of sports which they are taking care of,what to talk of they having played that sport.Moreover,politicians and other influential people like corporate heads and sponsorers have quite a big say in the selection of players which prooves to be very deterimental for the country’s sports….and one last thing,accountability.The people or organisation managing the sports like BCCI (Board of Cricket Control of India)is not accountable for its actions to any other authority,so they just have fun and do whatever they want.
This is a lot of bullshit. I am from Goa of the great India and in Goa football is the most popular Sport. As a matter of fact, India’s national team mainly comprises of Goan players. I don’t know what is the main reason why India does not participate in the Worlcup for football, but they do for cricket and other sport such as chess. I believe it just requires to be made more popular in other sates of India and winning more games will defeneatly make people to like to play football. Being born in Goa, I enjoy playing most sports. I hope this helps people realise that India does have the potential but requires more sponcerships by Indian entrepruners. India is a great country and full of potential.
i just believe that it is absolutely pathetic for a country of over a billion people to only have 1 medal, and not even gold at the summer games. indian people are better off as doctors, engineers, 7 eleven attendants or call center operators.
oh and cab drivers
This will probably sound somewhat racist but I am simply stating an observation from the Indians I see in Amsterdam. In comparison to the average Dutch person ( or most Northern Europeans) they tend not to have the most athletic of builds. The one sport in which India has excelled at the Olympics, field hockey, is in the West a female sport- so not much competition there from the Swedish or Canadian men, who play that sport on ice.
Perhaps an over-emphasis on cricket in India means that those who do show athletic promise always end up doing that. And, truth be told, nobody cares about that dull game aside from the Brits and her former colonies.
In the 1850s, an average Dutch person was barely 5 feet tall. Today though, my 3 Dutch friends in the US were: 6’3″, 6’5″ and 6’9″. And I could never beat any one of them in Squash. I am 5’9″, from India, and far more athletic than an average Indian, but could not come closer when compared to the physicality of my Dutch fellows.
So what’s the problem? It’s the nutrition stupid. Nothing to do with race. Indians are the only morons in the world who refuse to eat beef. My parents, and everyone I knew are strict veggies. You cannot be an athlete by eating grass. If Indian generations eat meat regularly for a few generations, I have no doubt that the average build of an an Indian person will change significantly, and Indians will start comparing with the “European race”. Heck, these days, I see extremely tall and well built Chinese people in the US. Of course…physicality is not a trait reserved by the Europeans.
I remember reading Magellan’s travel experiences. When he reached an island in South America, his sailors were darn afraid of the “giants” encountered there. Researched later showed that those giants measured 5’11” on average, which is the average height of Germany and slightly below Holland today. All I can say is that congratulations to Europe for making its population well nutritionally fed. Indians can become the same, but by shunning beef and other meat, they continue to be midgets in the world of giants.
Hi Everybody,
First of all what Riz,David Smith & Dirkinek said is completely true & the fact that i being an Indian but don’t belong to the Majority Garbage. The facts are:
1) Indian parents look down upon any sport ( other than only cricket (shitty i feel)) as useless wastage of time & money besides considering as an absurd idea
2)Indians excel onlyin cricket , which british has introuduced to this former colony & Majority indians are obsessed of this sport (cricket) & if their indian team wins ( atleast once ) against australia, south africa etc.; they feel like they’re superior than the whites & has shown the evidence ( silly )
3) Indians are one of the laziest people on the planet in sport & besides their bodies aren not well built when compared to the european race ( as Dirkinek rightly said )
4) Indian sports is full of politics & curruption
Solution 1: The western people (whites ) will need to be included in the Indian sporting teams & i’m sure India will surely win loads of medals in olympics ( inclding Gold ).
Solution 2: If India say as a hypothesis is still reeling under the crutches of British rule ( if still a british colony ) I’m sure it win win loads of medals & will excel in sport ( the British will drive them & whip them like a horse or a donkey )
Amazing always it seems to me that even small countries & those are in africa win good amount of medals in olympics ( only due to their sheer hardwork & talent besides their miserable food shortage (i really sympathize ).
Indians also doesn’t have plans in sports especially but when olympics come they want to win medals ( to boast with the western world i believe ) & i’m 100% sure that indian wont win more than 1 or 2 medals for atleast 100 years believe me (as David Smith said -True ). Ashamed of born in India. Left long back my own(best of ) land in the west ( luck enough ).
I am indian. All I can say, why india is so bad at sports is … people, system. It’s all because of religion,caste and 400 years of slavery to muslim rulers and british rulers. Majority of people are still poor and living in 14th century india. Buearacracy plays a big role.
you r right
we indians are not bad at sports,we have plethora of talent but poor nurturance….
we lack the initiative at the level of family.a good strong united family also views sports as a dull profession with no prospective carrer and a lacking a lusturous remuneartion.winds of change must start with the family with major support from government.in india sports means cricket.we need to change this feudal mindset.
Easy explanation – indians are generally physically weaker compared to other races – whites, blacks, east asians. Maybe it has something to do with the testosterone level. Read in BBC that indians have smaller d*cks. not sure whether that applies to the whole subcontinent
Ok then why was this lad from mumbai able to easily beat every lad at his London school in an arm wrestle and every English,Greek,Aussie, German,Austrian,Trinidadian etc ….girl I banged was shocked by my enormity.
Sports are the product of socialist/communist government policy-nothing else-the olympics merely a venue for cold war politics-most aspiring sportsmen end up injured,disappointed,misogynistic alcoholics. I am quite enjoying my luxury, sports car, holiday and sex filled life and working a 10 hr week for my six figure income!(I am pleased i studied like my mum told me to!!)
hey guys
i hust want to ask is india something or not?
my answer is nothing
and yours please reply
hey guys
i am seeing india is dumb in sports
and what do you
Sports are key for physical fitness, discipline and teamwork. That, however, is where their value ends. What benefit does anyone – including the athletes – gain from pro/international sports? In the US, it just makes a (very small) bunch of undeserving people richer, while screwing over the VAST majority of athletes who get injured, have nothing to do after age 30 when they retire, or simply aren’t superstars and struggle the rest of their lives. Look up the stats on the percentage of NFL players who go bankrupt – it’s sad. Also, the New York Times has reported on the inability of Chinese Olympians to get any sort of real job after they win GOLD MEDALS. These folks (and millions who don’t make it!) give up on education until it’s too late, because of a false promise.
For the fans, sports at their highest levels are merely entertainment. Sure, there’s a whole industry that provides people jobs, but I’m pretty sure that if push came to shove, they’d find some way to contribute to society other than perpetually worshiping muscular 20-something-year-olds running around fields/rinks/courts.
Nor does success in pro/int’l sports somehow uplift societies. Case in point: Africa.
I fully believe that sports should be promoted, whatever the cost. But it’s delusional to think that winning Olympic medals or pro competitions really achieves anything.
Oh, and to those who think whites/blacks/etc are somehow blessed to be physically stronger than Indians – what millenium are you living in? It’s 2010 – you can be 10 feet tall and bench a million pounds, but it does NOTHING for either you or anyone else, because we’re not cavemen hunter-gatherers. That kind of idiotic egocentrism (and the obese, meaty diet that goes with it) are driving this world into the ground. I laugh at you, and cry for the consequences of your actions.
FYI I’m Indian, and fairly athletic – ice hockey, street hockey, soccer, tennis, skiing, running, lifting and backpacking. I wouldn’t give up any of my athletic experiences, good or bad, for the world. But I couldn’t care less who wins what at the Olympics, or any other pro/int’l competition.
And by the way, India is the world’s largest democracy and virtually the ONLY example of a post-colonial society actually working. You only need to look to Africa to see what happens when post-colonial countries fail. If India’s success came at the cost of a few medals, so be it. I’ll take millions of lives saved, economic prosperity, education, democracy, and technological leadership over selfish athletes and shiny shit all day.
Oh and India has more military power than all but a handful of countries … so we’re strong where it counts.
Anyway, the comments on this board have been entertaining – Westerners congratulating themselves on winning competitions that they invented after barbarically subjugating the rest of the world (and are now losing to East Asians and Africans! LOL); and a bunch of sad sack Indians ashamed of their heritage because of said barbarians. Chin up, Indians! And shame on you, cave men. Hopefully your medals, made of gold mined from the blood of the global South, help you sleep at night.
It DOES NOT MATTER what India has achieved in some other aspects of life. Simple statistical laws state that irrespective of corruption, lack of facilities, disinterest in sports, predominant liking towards one sport, weather, and what not, a COUNTRY OF 1+ BILLION OUGHT TO WIN a few medals. Really, think about it. Slowly….try to digest it. Maybe 5 or 10 medals here and there consistently…that’s all it would take. Perhaps India can create a a niche in some sport…even Indonesia did in the sport of Badminton. Surely, archery, shooting, they won’t be that bad to conquer, right?
There is nothing barbaric about most sports in the world. That’s a giant loser’s attitude. India’s sports ineptitude is not only related to sports, but in general, proves how lethargic, lazy and simple minded its people are. The tide of globalization is rewarding some middle class book worms of India these days by bringing in some IT/software jobs…is that something 1+ billion can be proud of? What does an average Indian do in his/her life? What is the perspective of an average Indian? It is astonishing how low level an average Indian is…he/she is almost a subhuman.
And there is one simple answer: Protein Deficiency. Reluctance of meat, and in particular beef is slowly killing the Indian race over time. Give it about a couple of more century, and the difference between Indians and the rest of the world would have grown so alarming that someone is bound to discover this simple truth.
Actually most of you are wrong.
There are 2 major factors why indians suck at sports. I have an Indian friend who is very good at sports especially tennis,table tennis,badminton, swimming n basketball N he is excellent at studies too.
So i once had a chat with him about this same topic an he said it was because
i) Most of the indians are cricket wannabes.
ii) Their lifestyle. Most……sorry more than most of the indian totally focus on studies n dont care about sports except cricket.
This has been going on for generations in India. Kids are dumb,stupid n wannabes.
Man i hate those Indian losers n fuck their parents!!!!!!!!!!!………Except my friend’s…. he is india but does not have any indian trait(Free Thinker!)
India not good in sports due to reasons below
A. acting is no 1 sports in india , everyone wants to act (like criketers ,etc)
1 . film industry , movies etc -this is effected all indian youth in roots. The mind of youth is involved in this artificial world eventually exhausting all capabilities exept singing , dancing , romancing ,and acting
2 . criket
3. poverty and lack of knowledge
4. no finance
Lack of meat and bath and too much curry
This is a typical example of an Ignornant western boy who spin off stereotypes like there’s no one there to listening to him! Your ignorance of other cultures makes you the utter fool here.
Many Indian people are vegetarians. This results in less muscle and poor athletic ability.
India need a good facilities in sports and the government should support the athletes and the sports facilities.India also should send their athletes overseas ,for example USA,GERMANY,SOUTH KOREA for gain knowledge and learn from them.This kind of system can improve india sports ability and may be would increase india medal tally at olmpic,but the main issue is government must support the sports and youth development.
The problem is not with the govt, Indians are kind species who are comparatively low height, natuarally fat ( may be from their food habit) ,lazy , badly nurtured in childhood (check wiki) , low average talent,
do not posses killer instinct ( that is why non violence of gandhi was popular than any other violent ways in struggle for freedom). still most women wear Shari what makes them unfit for life.
I would still say india can produce some good sports person when they will be economically strong in future and will build infrastructure for other sports than cricket .
PLEASE SEND ME MORE COMMENTS AND LINKS
PLLEASSSEEEEEEEEE
PLEASE SEND ME MORE COMMENTS AND LINKS
PLEASE
Be patient, when snake charming becomes an olympic sport India is gonna rock
I dont think the problem for Indians in sports is not exclusive to India. There is a huge population of Indian migrants across the world in a variety of countries where sport is well funded, encouraged and most importantly inclusive.
Yet evan in these countries, Sporting Indian stars are non-existent (excluding the odd one e.g British boxer Amir Khan) whether or not they wear the colours of their new country or India.
Being a British Indian whose parents were also born here, sport was encouraged as a way to keep fit but to go any further than that was unheard evan though my father was a talented athlete at univeristy.
From my experience, it seems acadamia is ingrained into the mindset of Indians evan when they are socialised half way around the world.
Living is London where football is a way of life, there has never been a Indian premiership footballer evan with a 60+ year asain community in the UK.
There is a lot of truth in several comments on this page, regarding the physical stature of europeans and afro-carribeans, potentially from a high protein diet absent in india.
However, africa has a rich history of olympic success where food is at a premium so this can not be the sole cause of the situation.
Another factor could be the dominance of cricket, drowning out other sports for coverage and funding….but how much funding/promotion do you need to take up long distance running (in comparrison to Africa).
Regarding mg7505 comments, sports is incredibly important for the mind-set of a country and should be valued, if only you knew what the olympics has done for the morale of londoners.
Whatever the cause, I hope its solved because Indians are tired of being embarrased for being physically inferior to the rest of the world.