BENGALURU: It is a discussion that springs up in Indian football every now and then. But on Monday, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) brought the debate on footballers of Indian origin wearing national colours to the very forefront, with the forming of a task force to study the status of Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) footballers.
“The Task Force’s primary objective will be to collect data on footballers who are either Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) or Persons of Indian Origin (PIO),” said AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey.
“It is a matter of great pride for us that many such footballers are playing in different countries with distinction and have made a name for themselves in the tough world of professional football.”
While Chaubey maintains that this is merely a data gathering exercise and that he is aware of the law of the land prohibiting non-citizens from representing the country, his words make it clear that this is a step towards a change in status quo.
“However, if we want to open up a dialogue and look into various ways of allowing such players to represent the Indian Football Teams, then we need concrete and comprehensive data to back up our arguments, which is why we have constituted this Task Force,” he said.
It is no surprise that this debate has happened in football — it is indeed normal for national teams to field players born in another country. Morocco famously reached the semifinals of the 2022 World Cup with a squad-full of French and Dutch players. One has to keep in mind that most Western countries have dual citizenship. Every now and then, India often comes up against teams full of players bred elsewhere, more recently against Pakistan in the SAFF Cup.
However, any attempt to force the issue could lead to a legal mess that will affect the whole of Indian sports. The issue of non-citizens representing India is a Pandora’s box that had been firmly forced shut by the Supreme Court more than a decade ago. A 2010 judgment (Karm Kumar vs Union Of India & Ors) made it clear that, unless the government changed policy, non-citizens of Indian origin were not eligible to represent the country.
That case alone is an example of why allowing non-citizen footballers to represent the country may lead to a big legal mess. It began when Karm, a British squash player of Indian origin, moved the court against the decision to exclude non-Indian passport holders from the national squad. Karm was born in India and had migrated to the UK when he was two — there was indeed a case to be made that he had a strong connection with the country.
However, also party to the subsequent appeal in the Supreme Court was an American named Robert Blanchette, who claimed that he had the right to represent India in Equestrian by virtue of having grandparents who used to be Indian citizens. Blanchette — whose petition was referred to as ‘sketchy’ by the Supreme Court — appears to have little to do with India at first sight.
His profile on the Fédération Equestre Internationale website lists him as competing under Ireland colours (despite being an American citizen). At the time of the 2010 ruling, Blanchette was widely reported as attempting to participate in the London Olympics as part of the Indian contingent. It appears clear here that the event mattered, not the flag.
If a precedent is set in football, there is every chance, in a less-followed sport, of someone coming up with an obscure link to India to represent the country at a high-profile international event, much like Blanchette attempted to do.
Whatever decision the government takes in this regard, they would do well to remember that they might be setting off a chain reaction of irreversible consequences. Not just in sports but across the cross-section, including education. When Make in India is in focus, PIO taskforce is created by AIFF.