Boy's Union's ambition: Serious threat to Nepali football

KATHMANDU, Dec 18: "It was an unexpected result," Boys Union coach Bijay Maharjan said at the post-match press conference after his side´s 2-1 comeback win over Three Star Club in the quarterfinals of the Ncell Cup football tournament, which concluded on Tuesday.

Photo Courtesy - Bikash Karki

 Giving continuity to its fairytale run, Boys Union finished runner-up in a major tournament, soon after returning to A division this season. Before that, Boys Union played in the second division for two seasons.

The sudden-death win over Nepal Army in the semifinals and the closely-fought final against powerhouse Manang Marshyangdi Club (MMC) proved that Boys Union´s march to the final was not a fluke. But coach Maharjan termed the result as ´unexpected´ even after the semifinal win over Army.

As the title decider appeared headed for penalties, Sujal Shrestha netted the winner for MMC just three minutes before the end of the half-hour extra-time. Before that, Boys Union had held title favorite MMC to a goalless stalemate in regulation time. No one in the Boys Union squad -- including its two African players -- is a recognized name in Nepali football or a member of the national team.
Coach Maharjan´s statement was not just a mind game aimed at making the opponent underrate his side. In the first match of the group round that saw his side go down 1-0 against MMC, Maharjan had said, “We have trained only for two days and our major focus is the upcoming league.”
After finishing runner-up, Maharajan said, "Now we will come up with an improved performance in the league and try to finish in the top eight. If not, we will aim to avoid relegation. We are not well-off and in almost all previous seasons in A division, our focus has been to avoid relegation."
This raises a serious question in Nepali football. A team that played in the final of a top-tier tournament aims to avoid relegation. Normally one would expect a team finishing second in a top club competition to aim higher. But Boys Union´s target is only to avoid relegation in the league that starts in two weeks.
Why? Because Nepali clubs are not professional. They are still driven by traditional mindset and are being run exactly the way they were 20 years ago.
Of late, running A division clubs has been a costly business. A few decades ago, footballers were self-motivated and would be satisfied with just a small sum. The run of Boys Union to the final to some extent was a result of self-motivation of the players and officials. They were eager to erase the image of minnows. But the spirit of players and officials alone is not enough to yield results in every tournament.
The players´ demands and fees have been increasing rapidly but the income source of the clubs remains the same as it was a few decades ago. Most of them rely on donations from their supporters. The only change clubs have witnessed is: Most A division clubs now have signature sponsors paying around Rs 2 million. Besides this, everything is the same compared to two decades ago.
The major reason behind the clubs´ poor financial status has been their failure to explore new avenues of income. These clubs are the backbone of the country´s football. Only a few clubs like MMC and Three Star enjoy a sizeable fan following. But none of the clubs has taken any steps to increase its fan base, except Machhindra that has started a campaign recently.
Similarly, no club except Machhindra has started merchandising and marketing its products. It is a well-established fact that a large amount of revenue for European clubs comes from merchandising. But Nepali clubs have not done anything in this regard.
Even Nepali fans wearing the jerseys of European clubs like Manchester United and Chelsea contribute to the revenue of these clubs. There is no reason to think why these fans would not wear the jerseys of the Nepali clubs they support.
Meanwhile, ANFA, the football governing body, seems least bothered about the difficulties faced by the clubs. New Road Team (NRT), one of the oldest clubs with a big contribution to Nepali football, has pulled out of football this season citing financial crunch. But ANFA has remained silent.
Besides, as the governing body, ANFA has not come up with any plans and policies for sustainable growth of clubs. ANFA has ignored club licensing policy of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) which could be vital for their development in the long run.
The clubs are unaware of even the annual calendar at the beginning of the season. How could the clubs come up with long-term plans and big investment when they are even unaware of the annual calendar?