‘Start your own league’

Its the early 90s On the streets in Senegal are young boys shabbily dressed wholly engrossed in the world at their feet as they kick about a football One of them a striker goes for goal and hits the ball hard It veers off target ldquoWho broke the windowrdquo thunders a voice Fingers point to a 13yearold in a family of 24 siblings Bewildered their father looks at the scrawny boy and laughs in disbelief ldquoImpossiblerdquoThat boy went on to captain Manchester United and the French national Team His name is Patrice Evra ldquoIt was only years later when he saw me play at Manchester that he finally believed it was merdquo reminisces Evra with a chuckle to a room full of children at Smile Foundation AndheriAs they ask more questions he patiently answers all of them ldquoThey remind me of myself at that agerdquo Evra tells midday later ldquoI grew up like them couldnrsquot even afford a bag for schoolrdquo His first contract at 17 took him out of the streetsPatrice EvraThe ForwardturnedLeftBack has been in town for a few days experiencing India in all its glory ldquoIrsquove been to the slumsrdquo he tells us ldquoSeen the Dhobi Ghat cut coconuts to have nariyal pani sat in a tuktuk and thoroughly enjoyed butter chickenrdquo Yet the trip is not just for sightseeing itrsquos more than thatmdasha personal endeavour he confesses One that he has had on his mind for a couple of yearsIt has two missions The first to give back the love and support hersquos received from his fans here The second curiosity about the scope for football in the countryldquoTherersquos immense potentialrdquo he says ldquoIndian people are very athletic Irsquove seen professional kabaddi matches and the kind of physicality that the players have is precisely whatrsquos required for the Premier League I wish I could move like thatrdquoHe admits that he hasnrsquot seen a professional Indian football match but he has seen children play on the streets Thatrsquos where the heart of the game lies he believe Football has always been a sport of the poor ldquoTherersquos no need for a fancy academy to become the next Cristiano Ronaldo or Evrardquo he says assuredly ldquoYou need to dream but also work towards it You need resilience and the belief that God has a plan for you It is easy to reach the tophellipstaying there is when mattersget complicatedrdquoHe recalls the time he felt most thrown offmdashit was after his debut match in the Premier League He was subbed off after halftime and United coach Sir Alex Ferguson told him ldquoSit next to me until you learn how to playrdquo Evrarsquos agent sidled up to him and apologised for working out the transfer However this only made the former Monaco player more resolute to make his mark He put more hours at the gym to compete with the physicality demanded by the English league and focused on acclimatisingAnother major change was his mindset His philosophymdashwhich he admits Sir Alex would be less than thrilled to hearmdashis offence is the best defence ldquoThat helped me finally accept that I was a Defenderrdquo he says ldquoI had always thought of myself as a Striker and was unwilling to fall backrdquo He smiles and adds perhaps thatrsquos why he was so good The result of all these efforts was an exceptional run at the renowned club winning five league titles among other achievementsToday his mission is to give back and a part of that is tied to the biggest democracy in the world What India needs to do according to him is prioritise and invest Give the sport more importance and focus on cultivating and mentoring homegrown talent ldquoTherersquos no need to go out when you can start your own leaguerdquo Evra asserts Besides going abroad could be tough on Indian footballers due to the strong family bonds hersquos noticed in the short span of time that hersquos been hereWhen asked whether he may look into investing in football here he replies itrsquos a possibilityhellip provided he can find individuals who share his values and donrsquot want to set up an academy just for profit