KOCHI: For P P Thobias, who retired as chief marshal of the state assembly recently, football has been a burning passion all his life. Now, the former international is back on the field to bring more talent to the fore
One hard kick, and the ball would fall into the backwaters. That’s where P P Thobias started playing football. In Ponjikkara. More stylishly called Bolgatty Island. But his talent, as a clean and incisive passer, took him to the national team. And to Kerala football’s hall of fame. Now retired from the Kerala Police, as the chief marshal in the Kerala assembly, commandant Thobias is back on the football field. This time as a coach to give back what he received in abundance.
Thobias wants to build on the grassroots training programme that Bolgatty FC – his alma mater, then known as Bolgatty Footballers – has launched. While the club is training youngsters in various categories, the former midfield maestro plans to streamline it along professional lines. Focus, he says, would be on unearthing talent right from the under-10 level. “I want the endeavour to be built on friendship. That will keep the programme going,” Thobias says. Friendship. That’s exactly what is sustaining the club. Former players are chipping in to raise funds to provide for the club’s activities. And they train youngsters for free. But Thobias knows much more needs to be done to nurture talent to excellence.
“Players need to perfect the basics at a young age. Only then can they move on to the tactical nuances of the game, which is very important at the senior level,” he says. For a start, he wants to organise a tournament in Bolgatty for children once the academic year officially comes to a close. “Hopefully, we can conduct the tournament in April. It will create an interest among children and the local people, and will serve as a platform to select players to our programme,” Thobias says.
Community sport
While he wants to spread the net to other rural areas, he also believes in the great potential of football to strengthen communities. “Playing a sport helps children stay away from the perils of drugs and other wayward ways. Some may go on to become successful players. But everyone should become successful in life,” the genial 56-year-old outlines his philosophy.
In his time, Thobias was an integral part of the golden generation of footballers that made the Kerala Police the best club side in India, and Kerala the best state team in the late eighties and early nineties. His immense self-belief is something that can rub off on any youngster. For he was a skinny 19-year-old when he first made the Kerala team in 1984, with some selectors doubting if he wasn’t too frail to play among seniors. But his performances, for the now defunct Premier Tyres team, proved that football was more about brain than brawn.
Thobias had already earned a name captaining the Indian youth team in the Asian Championship during the 1982-83 season in Bangkok. But his best days -- as with the golden generation comprising the likes of the late V P Sathyan, C V Pappachan, U Sharafali, Kurikesh Mathew, K T Chacko and I M Vijayan – coincided with a period when Indian football was at its lowest financially.
So how would his Kerala Police team compare with the current Indian Super League sides with their international players and coaches?
“What if they have foreign players or coaches? We would have held our own against any ISL team. Maybe, outclassed them,” Thobias says.
Those who have watched them play concur. He and his teammates would have been highly sought-after stars, with a heavy price-tag. That belief in one’s ability is perhaps a good starting point for a youngster coming under Thobias’ wings. On the field, there’s another golden rule that he would want his trainees to imbibe: “Football is a passing game.”