THE OFFICIAL IFSC LAUNCH

The IFSC was officially launched on January 26, 2001 in London, England.

'Indian football . . . The Beginning of a New Era'
report by Anish Doshi

To most Indians in the world, the 26th of January represents 'Indian Republic Day'. However, to a small set of Indians, and also non-Indians, Friday 26th of January 2001 also represented the historical official launch of the Indian Football Supporters' Club (IFSC). Taking place at 'The India Club' in London (UK), various members of the IFSC Executive Committee set about in discussing and planning a myriad of strategies with the main objective of eventually achieving the accomplishment of the effective and efficient utilisation of various sports facilities and all matters regarding Indian football promotion and management all over the world. The IFSC represents an international non-profit organisation dedicated to the development and promotion of Indian football, not only in India but in the world all over. Examples of specific areas that the IFSC will be involved in include training, coaching, women's football, information databases, merchandising, sponsorship, youth development schemes, football player exchanges and TV coverage.
The origin, and founding member of the IFSC, lies with a young football crazy fan in Germany, who's roots are in India. In October 1998, Arunava Chaudhuri first started his web-based mailing list and as a result has given the opportunity for many professionals to discuss the future of Indian football. However, the first occasion to address this issue in reality and not only in cyberspace materialised in July 2000 with the two-day Indian football conference and convention that took place at the University College Northampton (UK). With the likes of FIFA's Director of Communications Keith Cooper attending, July's event brought together interested academics, supportes, the media, government and representatives of the football industry. This proved to be a great success and in turn, it brought with it a new momentum to the IFSC.

And now back to the present day regarding the IFSC's official launch. Under the co-ordination of Rene Barreto, the following issues (in summary format) were defined and developed further:

• Mario Fernandez informed everyone that football teams in Goa are 100% willing to introduce a player/coach exchange program with English clubs. Mario is currently involved in launching various Goan football web sites.
• Steve White is to be travelling to India in February and visiting various football grounds and academies. Steve is heavily involved in founding his own state-of-the-art academy and is also involved in the 'Foxes Against Racism' scheme which involves Leicester FC, Leicester council and Leicester schools and which has been nominated for a number of awards.
• Anil Patel has taken professional UEFA coaching exams and has been recommended for further exams. Anil will be overseeing the coaching and training committees of the IFSC.
• Anthony Jaimongal will be involved with the marketing aspects of the IFSC such as sponsorship, merchandising, TV rights and newsletters. Also, a 'thank you' has to be handed to Anthony for sponsoring the event.
• Anish Anil Doshi will also be involved with the marketing aspects of the IFSC such as sponsorship, merchandising, TV rights and newsletters alongside Anthony. As well as this role, Anish will also be working with Arunava regarding the press and publicity.
• Rene Barreto will be co-ordinating the activities of the IFSC.
• Arunava Chaudhuri will remain as the principal chief supervisor of the IFSC. He will also look into the online operations of the IFSC. He will be helped by Chris Punnakkattu Daniel and Daniel Ponattu.

In conclusion, Friday 26th of January 2001 marked the beginning of a new era in Indian football...
The IFSC is open to all races, sex and creed. Only recently, the international game of football has been nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for promoting understanding amongst nations... This was self-evidently justified when after restoring parity in an earlier game, the Bosnian players had struck a deal with neighbours Yugoslavia in Kochi, India that they would meet in the final of the Sahara Millennium Cup in Calcutta and exchange shirts at the end of the match. Take it or leave it, this is the relation between the players of the two nations who were engaged in a prolonged civil war almost throughout the whole of the nineties of the last century.