Real Kashmir's unreal journey

It was a gloomy evening of September 2014. Kashmir, known as the Heaven on Earth, had turned hellish after floods caused by torrential rainfall hit a number of its districts.

Shamim Meraj, the co-owner of a local English newspaper, was out on his daily walk with his friends as he witnessed the after-effects of the devastation.

"We reached a park, and my friends and I decided to have a kick with a few young kids who were playing football," Meraj, who participated in a couple of football nationals for Jammu & Kashmir in his younger days, recalls.

"After a few minutes, the elders of the locality chased us away. I told them, 'Why do you have a problem with us playing football? Why don't you have a problem with these young kids just sitting around and smoking cigarettes behind your back'?"

Two questions that led to one revolutionary idea.

Peeved by the plight of the troubled Kashmiri youth, Meraj wanted to find an avenue that could take them away from all the distractions in the picturesque yet highly volatile valley.

Meraj, a Kashmiri Muslim, shared his thoughts with Sandeep Chattoo, a Kashmiri Pandit who also co-owns the English newspaper with Meraj. Chattoo, a businessman, seconded his good friend's sentiments.

"We were wondering what to do with these boys," Chattoo says. "They just pick up the stones, or get into other notorious activities. And that's because they have nothing else to do, there is no life after 5-6pm in Kashmir.

"People keep telling the Indian government that we need to engage the Kashmiri youth. But, engage them in what? So, we thought sport will be the ideal way of doing that," he adds.

And thus saw the birth of Real Kashmir FC, a football club that became the first from Jammu and Kashmir to be promoted to the I-League after it clinched the I-League 2nd Division title in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

From being a mere idea in September 2014 to being officially launched in April 2016 to becoming the I-League 2nd Division champions in May 2018, Real Kashmir's rise has been as steep as some of the scenic mountains in the state.

From idea to execution

To win a championship — no matter the division — in two years of inception is no mean achievement, yet the bigger task for the co-owners lay in the period from 2014-2016.

The club was planned on a small scale, more for the kids to come, play amongst each other and pass their time more productively.

However, the stakes grew manifold the moment Meraj received the All India Football Federation's (AIFF) response to his request for a club formation.

"The federation pulled a fast one on me," Meraj says.

"They sent me a letter, which stated that our club will take part in the I-League 2nd Division. It meant certain financial commitments. That's when the enormity of the task hit me."

Financial fears aside, participating in a professional league meant the club had to assemble a big enough pool of players, and a full-time coach to oversee them.

Assembling a squad

The owners were clear that the Kashmiri flavour of the club shouldn't be lost, harping upon picking local talent over importing stars. It meant picking up students and even semi-professionals, some of whom are bankers and private employees.

With two-thirds of the squad comprising local players, a couple of African recruits and a few players from other parts of India, Real Kashmir FC took part in its first national tournament in September 2016, the Durand Cup. They tasted three draws, two defeats, zero victories.

The owners soon realised that the young local players needed a seasoned commander-in-chief.

Enter David Robertson, a Scottish coach who played 183 games for the renowned Rangers team in the 1990s.

Coaching lower division teams in the US, Robertson got an offer from Real Kashmir last January. For a player of his stature, it was a low-profile job.

Yet, something got him attracted to it.

"Real Kashmir was a brand new club, no one really knew where they are, where they are going to go. It was like starting from scratch. You don't often get such opportunities because most offers come from established clubs. You can take such clubs only till a certain point. But here, no one knew where we would go," Robertson says.

Well, he did.

One of the first things the 49-year-old did after taking charge was organise a short trip for the team to Scotland in June last year.

"One thing I felt when I came to Kashmir was that there was a lot of good talent and lot of good players but there was no good exposure.

"Players from Kashmir played among themselves, and even in the local leagues, they do not allow players from other states. We took them to Scotland, where it was their first experience playing against a professional team outside India. I think that outing helped them a lot," he says.

Smells like team spirit

Where that sojourn also helped was in building team spirit, something Robertson believes is the heart behind the team's transformation in the I-League 2nd Division that began in March this year.

"Maybe, we were lucky," Meraj says. "We had no big names, that was the key. We had no tantrums, no starry behaviour. We moved from one hotel to another in Kashmir, and yet the players never complained."

Not only from one hotel to another but also from one city to another, sometimes in planes but most times in trains or even buses.

Far from sulking, the players relished their long travels together.

"We spent 30 hours in a train at one point, and 16 hours in a bus in another," Robertson recalls. "We tried to make a good atmosphere, because all the players were away from their families for four months. So, we had to make it enjoyable. It was very hard at times, but we always knew we had to work hard to make this happen," he adds.

The various challenges

It wasn't all hunky-dory, though.

Lack of full-time sponsors meant budget was always a challenge, especially with the constant travel over the last three months.

Chattoo, a hotelier by profession, had the maximum contribution to the finance bucket, filled drop by drop with the support of a few other well-wishers.

"Luckily, I have a huge network of friends," Meraj says. "So sometimes, someone would arrange for the tickets from Delhi to Pune, someone else would chip in for something else."

However, there were more hurdles to cross.

Infrastructure was the single biggest obstacle, with only one ground in Srinagar available for training sessions. And that lone ground was used by Real Kashmir, their I-League opponents as well as all other local clubs in the state.

At times, all at once.

"It was a challenge because the local league started the same time as the I-League. So, we not only had the local teams but also the visiting I-League teams training on the same ground as well," Robertson says.

"It was difficult because you're trying to prepare against the same team. And then the team you play against shows up just as you're in session. So, you can't really get your point across because your opponents are watching you train," he adds.

Tackling curfews

And when opposition teams showing up wasn't an issue, strikes and curfews were.

There were times the coaching staff had to change the practice sessions at the nth hour due to partial shutdowns and curfews.

"At times, we had to change our training times at the last minute, or late in the evening before due to the curfews," Robertson says.

Chattoo adds: "Sometimes, the boys used to wake up, watch the news and go, 'Oh my God, this has happened and that has happened'.

"We just told them to leave everything else aside and concentrate on football. Life can't come to a standstill because of one problem," he adds.

Standstill? Nay, it surged.

Real Kashmir played a total of 13 games in the I-League 2nd Division, winning eight, drawing five and losing nil.

A defeat in their final game against Hindustan FC would've seen their dream cut short, but they beat them 3-2 amidst heavy downpour in Bengaluru to book their I-League ticket.

Wind of change

The impact of Real Kashmir's four months of blood, sweat and toil has been immediate.

"We got a couple of calls from the local corporate houses, the same ones which would earlier never take our calls. They now say that we would like to associate with the club. So something, I believe, is changing," Meraj says.
Not just the interest among sponsors but even the masses.

"All these players have become role models here now. People have gone crazy, they are only talking about football and are lining up in front of our academy to sign up their kids," Chattoo says.

Like Danish Farooq did several years ago.

The 22-year-old, who scored fours goals for the club in the 2nd Division, took up football after accompanying his father — a former footballer himself — in each of his training sessions while growing up.

But he knows that not many youngsters in Kashmir have the luxury of a family with a sporting background, and he believes the feat achieved by his team will go a long way in getting many of those distracted kids attracted to sports.

"This will have a huge impact in Kashmir," Farooq, who is also pursuing his BA in Kashmir, says. "Sports is an addiction, it can kill all other distractions in a youngster's life. And Kashmir has seen plenty of that."

The road ahead

That addiction is bound to grow once this I-League season begins later this year. Matches will be televised, and the big daddy clubs of India will visit Kashmir for their away games.

"More and more youngsters will now get interested in football," Farooq says.

"They will see teams from outside coming and playing here, they will also see us going out and playing all over India. They will also watch us on TV.

"All this will only get them more attracted. So, the interest of the youngsters will surely grow, not just in football but sports in general," he adds.

On the pitch, expectations are bound to grow, but so is the competition.

I-League will be a whole lot different to I-League 2nd Division, and therein lies the charm of India's premier domestic football tournament, with the AIFF still keeping the promotion-relegation system in place.

The rise in level notwithstanding, Scot coach is hopeful that his gritty boys hold on to their own against the mightier clubs next season.

"Now that we've go got an opportunity, we want to make a good impression. So much sweat has gone into it, that it will be a shame if we let this opportunity go," Robertson says.

However, the man whose walk in the park engineered this runaway success story is being more realistic.

"The I-League will be a different ball game," Meraj says. "We can feel the burden of expectations now, and that's why it will be important how our handle ourselves now.

"We don't want to win the I-League in the first year, but we certainly want to stay away from relegation.

"We don't want to be a beautiful story," he adds.

Except, it already is.