Growing up with the game | Young Ideas

What's the topic of the month? Football, football and more football! The World Cup mania has gripped us too. Everybody is choosing their favourite teams and where to watch the finals. Conversations revolve around who will win, what chances the underdogs have, which matches are worth watching and more. So for Young Ideas this month, we talked to the Nepali U-17 football team.

Rupak Shrestha
This team won the 45-year-old Subroto Mukherjee Cup in India and became the first foreign team to win it. They are now training for the U-17 Asian Football Cup in Singapore. Come September, their term with Akhil Nepal Football Association (ANFA) will end and they will move on to play for Sankata Club as the youngest A division players.

WAVE: How did you get into football?
RUPAK: I liked the game ever since I was a kid. My buwa used to play it too. I guess it runs in my blood.

Pukar Gahalraj
PUKAR: I used to watch my elder brothers play and sometimes joined them.
ROSHAN: I knew I wanted to play football when I participated in an interschool football tournament and won Man of the Match award. The prize was a geometry box.
BIKASH: That was how it was for most of us. We've been playing since we were little boys and have grown up with the game.

WAVE: What do you think is the scope of football in Nepal?

Anil Ohja
ANIL: It's improved. The number of players is increasing and there is demand for good footballers. The prizes have also improved.
BIKASH: Yeah, now you can earn a living by playing football.
PUKAR: The next generation will have it even better.
RUPAK: ANFA is really making an effort. Ganesh (Thapa) sir is trying to bring in more sponsors and have more matches for us to play. The more matches we play, the better we get with experience and exposure.

Biraj Maharjan
WAVE: What about your studies?
ANIL: We are studying simultaneously. While we stay at ANFA, we study at Nobel Academy. Now that we are leaving, we have to fund our own studies.
BIRAJ: We practice football for two hours every morning and evening. Besides that, we study.
RUPAK: I want to study science, become a doctor. Later, when I can't play, I can look after players.
RANZIT: I want to study Hotel Management.

Bikash Chettri
WAVE: Why football players then?
(They laugh) BIKASH: How many will become doctors and engineers? We need football players too. If there are no injured football players, who will the doctors treat? (More laughter)
RANZIT: We want to do something for our country. Athletes make the country's name famous. We want to be sportsmen who make Nepal's name shine in the international arena.

Ranzit Shrestha
WAVE: What chances do you have of winning international games?
RANZIT: We have very good chances because we are playing with people of our age. Things are different when you are in the national team but at the youth level we are all the same, we are as good as them.
RUPAK: The training differs according to age. Other teams might have facilities to their advantage but our training and potential at this age is similar so we have a fighting chance.

Bharat Khawaswk
WAVE: What problems have you faced as a football player in Nepal?
BHARAT: We don't have any games. There are no tournaments or matches happening and when they take place, they are few and far between.
RANZIT: The main problem is lack of facilities. We don't have equipments for young players. The food is not enough or the sort of diet we require. Also, there are no sponsors so we have difficult times.

WAVE: Which teams are you supporting this World Cup?

Deepak Bhusal
(MOST OF THEM): Brazil! Brazil!
ANIL, DEEPAK, ROSHAN: England, definitely England.
BHARAT: Argentina
RANZIT: Japan. I support Japan because they are an Asian team competing and we should root for Asia.

WAVE: Do you think Nepal might have a chance at hosting the World Cup in 50 years?
(There are cries of impossible! then explanations follow.)

Chetan Ghimire
BIKASH: Look at the situation now, there's no way that'll happen in 50 years.
RUPAK: Nepal is a poor country and then the politics to boot.
RANZIT: We don't have multinational companies (MNCs) here capable of sponsoring us. Most football hosting countries have MNCs coming in for advertisements. Here, we have to approach them for money. (Laughs)
BHARAT: Even now, tournaments don't have enough funds. The AFC challenge was supposed to be held here but Nepal couldn't get its act together so Bangladesh

Rabin Shrestha
hosted it instead.
BIRAJ: We need more stadiums. In 50 years? Not possible even if we put in all our efforts.
ANIL: The government is not supportive at all. Nobody cares about sports here. Let's see what Nepal Sarkar does. (More laughter)

WAVE: What do you have to say to young aspiring footballers and football fans?

Roshan Karkee
BIKASH: Sports develops with its audience. Come, watch football, some day then we might be playing in the World Cup. We need your support to keep hope alive.
RUPAK: We will be the youngest A division players from a club, we will definitely need your encouragement.
BIRAJ: We would appreciate feedback so we can improve our game and make ourselves worthy of support.
DEEPAK: We want to move forward, do better things for which we'll need audience support. Without them, we cannot play.