Live India, Love Football

This past week I had the pleasure of traveling to Kolkata: a city which never ceases to amaze or amuse me.   This place clearly has an identity crisis regarding whether its an old city or a new one, yet its citizens don’t seem to mind, actually they seem to like it this way. It is so apparent the second you get off the plane and walk through Kolkata’s beautiful new airport only to step into an Ambassador taxi which seems to have been built in the 1950s.   Then you drive down pot holed streets which haven’t been fixed since the 70s and look out the window and see modern high rise apartment buildings as nice as any structure you may see in some of the world’s best cities.   Along the streets, rich Bengalis and westerners walk by the poor and the handicapped who seem to have been sitting in the same position since Mother Theresa’s days.   Even in the city’s best restaurants on Park Street like Flury’s or Peter Kat, or Mocambo you have brand new interiors and menu ...

The evening is still so vivid in my memory: It was January 2009, I was in my Brooklyn, NY apartment after returning from my second family/football excursion through India just a few days earlier.  Although the jet lag from the trip was still clearly present, as was my "Delhi Belly,"  I was 100% clear that I wanted to move to India to contribute to the professional and sustainable growth of the Indian football industry.   I had completed my scheduled call with my friend and Indian football industry mentor, Sukhvinder Singh, who assured me that he would put in a good word for me with the owner of Shillong Lajong FC, the club considered the most professional football organization in India at that time, as he felt confident that I could secure a position with them.  I clearly remember hanging up the phone with so much optimism that I immediately started envisioning myself working for Shillong Lajong FC, creating the club strategy, building programs and leading the ...