South United Football Club was first established in 2012 and is Bengaluru-based Indian football club. Former Premier League footballer Terry Phelan, the Sporting Director of South United Sports Foundation, opened up on how the Indian Super League has changed the landscape of football in the country and the future of the sport as what needs to be done at the grassroots.
EXCPERTS:
You have been around Indian Football for some time now. How did you get associated with SUFC and how have things been in the club?
I got associated with SUFC back in 2019. I was down Kerala with Muthoot Residential Academy and it out of the blue that Sharan (Sharan Parikh, Owner of SUFC) and Pranav (Pranav Trehan, CEO of SUFC) wanted to speak to me. They showed me a blueprint of what they were trying to do, their vision for the space which they owned which is South United Football ground in Bangalore. They said that this is how they see me fit into the family and I had no hesitations to join back in July 2019. Yeah, and from there, they had the first team there who was playing in I-League second division. The building was still ongoing, so we did not start the academy till the following year COVID hit and it slowed a lot of progress down.
How were the operations in the club when you joined and what changes have you made to grow the stature of the club?
The operations were very small in the beginning. We had a limited number of people. There were the main people and around four to five coaches plus myself. And then Covid got a grip on us so it was slow at the time. There were a lot of people who pulled together seeing the vision of what we needed to do, how hard we had to work to implement what we wanted, what the owners wanted and we did that from scratch. The first team obviously had played in the I-League second division. We had a small operations department but it has grown now. It has grown like a beast at this present time and if you look back then and you look now you we have around 40 staff now. The coaching department’s got about 20 staff so it just tells you how it has grown. I’ve just been part of the jigsaw which has helped the club grow in different verticals coaches’ and player’s education, and just growing the different development stages from the right up to the first team so I’ve been a part of it. I’ve got to look at other people who have been really there and taking it from strength to strength.
You’ve been overseeing the development of grassroots football for a long period. How would you assess the progress of grassroots football in India from the time you arrived to this day?
There’s still improvement to do on the grassroots department in India. They have envisioned a roadmap for 2047. They have had a lot of different technical directors and if you look into recent news articles, the people have come in now want to grow the game in India. There has been really good changes, number one is the ISL, which kicked off when I first arrived. I first arrived in India in 2010 and then I came back in 2011- 2012 and then again in 2014 with the Kerala Blasters. The ISL is growing and I think that is partly because people see the vision and now you look at the grassroots level, more coaches are taking licenses. The ecosystem is a lot better than it probably was when I first came to India. More knowledge has gone into the game and into coaching and clubs like South United building better venues for the young and old to and train and play. The national team is doing well at this present time which is fantastic. The Women’s national team is up there and doing well. We see the game is growing and the main aim is to get into the World Cups. I think that flow will effect across all levels and it’s about growing the game at the ground level. There are more tournaments, more games and we should have more of such tournaments in the school and academy level. The training for the coaches have also come leaps and bounds and I can confidently say that it’s going in the right direction at the moment.
You’ve expressed a strong commitment to youth development in the past. Is this still your primary focus, or do you see yourself returning to coaching top-division clubs in the future?
I’m happy where I am to be honest my efforts are to get the youth sector where it needs to be. I also like being the mentor to the coaches and the education for the coaches, the staff and the players in all age groups. I want to give the knowledge that I have gained from playing in the highest level and coaching for about 20 years to the youth system of the game. I enjoy it there but you never say never but at this present time, I’m just focused on what we do at South United Football Club, and being part of the big family here.
SUFC is doing a lot of initiatives for underprivileged kids through the club. Can you explain some of the most important activities?
We had activity at the club a couple of months back. I think it was a kick for a cause. Many NGOs participated in the tournament and we opened our ground to these underprivileged children with a lot of pride. The vital part of our ecosystem is the community. The club and the venue what we’ve built in Bangalore, from scratch, is part of the community. We want to get more into the development of the underprivileged children, which we will do in a certain time. We look at ways we can develop them and bring them into our wonderful space. The next step, especially for myself and the club, is to implement the community projects. I’m working with the underprivileged children and giving them a taste of the other side of life in the society and bringing them out of hardships and giving them something to look forward to. Our aim is to provide the health and well-being, self-esteem and motivation and that care and love which we can provide through sports and football.
The club has opened academies in Pune recently. Why was Pune selected as the city keeping in mind that there is a history of football clubs from Pune being dissolved?
It was paramount that we did our homework in Pune and we exactly knew what was needed in Pune. Currently there are no real football clubs in Pune but there are lot of academies. We brought a football club to Pune and we’ve got different centres opening up there and again it’s growing. It’s about growing the game in Pune in the professional sense and we are going to have Elite Programmes for the kids’ right through their Youth development. I am in Pune at this present time you overlooking what the coaches, head of youth development, managers are doing there. I think it’s really just growing the game and we see it as bringing a football club in the city and hopefully building our team here along with giving everybody an opportunity to be part of a wonderful community.
This seems to be one of the most exciting editions of ISL with several top-class coaches here. In your view, how has the league changed in the recruitment of both players and coaches?
ISL has changed a lot. I remember when it was launched it was about going out getting a lot of older European and South American players. As the years have gone by the teams have focused on younger players and bringing the youth through their academies. And I think that’s paramount to the growth of the game in India. You want to see that you are putting all the hard yards in the development of the grassroots structure. These players have got somewhere to go now and they can go to your Kerala’s your BFCs, up to your Calcutta teams and all other teams who are doing well in the youth department. So, there’s now an opportunity for growth and there are players who have a chance of not just playing in the I-League, which is a fantastic league, but they’ve got another step up playing in the ISL. We’ve seen many coaches coming and out which is okay, that’s part of the ecosystem, that’s part of the game but now I think clubs are looking at developing their players, at their clubs, through the youth teams, into the 21s and into the first team which I think is great.
South United FC recently conducted a Kick for a Cause tournament for underprivileged children in Bengaluru. How important is it for football clubs to give back to the game?
I think it is a real big input, we need to do that, we need as clubs and a lot of clubs are doing it, a lot of clubs are doing it out there, there’s a lot of academies doing it, there’s a lot of NGOs out there that are working hard and we are part of this and I think it was fantastic what we did. Everybody pulled together for this cause and we are proud as a team for what we have pulled off. A lot is going on in India, we’re doing the same in all sectors, not just in the football sector but also in the art sector, in schools and we just want to add to that, with what we’ve got and bring what we know into the frame. We should give these boys and girls an opportunity to maybe come and join South United Football Club and we have done that. We picked ten students who are going to be coming in on a free scholarship to SUFC academy and we are always on the lookout and we always want to give back because without communities we can’t grow and we must look at giving back to the communities and under privileged.
After winning the BDFA ‘A’ division title last season, the first team finished sixth in the BDFA Super division table. How have the performances been this season and are you satisfied with the results?
We got into the A division we kept them in the A division, and then we went to the Super division, which was fantastic. Sachin (Head Coach Sachin Badadhe) and his staff, which was exhilarating to be able to do that and push into the Super division. The Super Division is always tough, it’s one of the hardest divisions in Indian football. We have got some tough teams in the league and I think we did very well to finish sixth. A lot of people expect us to win, they probably did but you know, with a group of players coming together and some of them playing in that league for maybe the first time, it was a great achievement for the club with some exciting games. You cannot win everything but there is room for improvement and we’ll see how we go next year in the league. I think the staff and players worked very hard and all around it was a great achievement for the players to be playing in the Super division and finishing sixth.
What is your vision for the future of this football club, and how do you plan to realize that vision?
I think the vision is ongoing with everybody sitting together and talking with each other. The vision comes from the owner and the CEO, we’re starting our vision now with different verticals and the ecosystem starting with opening academies in major cities like Pune, Hyderabad and Mumbai. So, we are now spreading our wings. We are letting people know that we’re out there, that this football club is built on values and we want to give back I think we can grow from strength to strength and one day maybe we’ll be in the ISL, but that’s not our main objective yet. Our main objective is to grow the game and if we can grow the game and give students a chance to be part of a football club and part of a holistic program individually as well as collectively, this is the way we want to go. As I said, we’re developing slowly. It took us five or six years to get where we are now and we’re still going and the vision is strong at this present time. I think everybody, who’s been involved with South United Football Club at some stage has made a great impact and has been part of it and it’s good that we keep growing. We grow slowly, we grow effectively and we grow in the right direction butut we grow as one.
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