Just as his legwork quickly finds the back of the net, footballer CK Vineeth didn't miss the chance to capture a scene in Kozhikode that instantly reminded him of The Beatles' iconic Abbey Road crossing.
The photograph of The Beatles (musicians John, Paul, Ringo, and George) walking in a line on a zebra crossing by Iain Macmillan had became a global cultural landmark on August 8, 1969.
The photograph from Kozhikode posted by Vineeth, showed five children walking a zebra crossing, with dark clouds hovering above. One of them was nudging a football forward with each step, an image that resonates with the football fever engulfing the world now. Sharing the picture, which represents the dreams of thousands of football-loving youths in the country, Vineeth lamented that those responsible for Indian football are busy with ‘political manoeuvring and renaming ceremonies’. Vineeth was hinting at the recent plan of the All India Football Federation to rename itself as the Football Federation Bharat. “While the future of Indian football continues to be scripted inside air conditioned offices in New Delhi, the dreams of these children end on the very streets where they begin,” he wrote in Malayalam.
On a journey from Kozhikode to Kochi, somewhere near the University of Calicut, I saw five children crossing a zebra crossing with footballs at their feet. The first thing that came to my mind was the iconic Abbey Road photograph by The Beatles. I instinctively captured the moment on my camera.
In 1969, four men walking across a zebra crossing on Abbey Road in London gave the world an image that was far more than an album cover. It became the symbol of an era that transformed the history of music. Captured by Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan, that moment went on to become an icon of Western popular culture.
Decades later, thousands of kilometres away, on a rain soaked street in Kerala, another group walks across a zebra crossing. Five children. There are no flashing cameras waiting for them, no media frenzy, no one standing by to tell their story to the world. With footballs at their feet and limitless dreams in their eyes, they keep walking. If Abbey Road became the address of Western music, these streets are the heartbeat of football.
A nation's football culture is not born inside concrete buildings, but on streets like these, in open grounds, muddy fields, and village playgrounds. In the impoverished streets of Bauru, Brazil, a young boy who could not even afford a football stuffed old socks with cloth and newspaper, tied them together with string, and played barefoot. That boy grew up to become one of the greatest footballers of all time, Pelé. His first youth team was aptly called "The Shoeless Ones." In the narrow lanes and rough dirt fields of Villa Fiorito near Buenos Aires, Diego Maradona developed the extraordinary balance and close control that would mesmerise the footballing world. In Bambali, Senegal, Sadio Mané grew up playing with stones as goalposts. In the asphalt streets of Tocopilla, Chile, Alexis Sánchez performed tricks with a football before local crowds to earn enough money to ease his hunger. For countless football legends, streets like these were their very first academy.
India has such streets too. Hidden across our villages, coastal towns, and hilly regions are talents every bit as gifted as those from Brazil or Africa. What we lack is not talent, but a system to discover and nurture them. We have no robust scouting network reaching deep into rural and urban communities. We lack structured grassroots programmes. That is why, despite spending crores on professional leagues and hiring foreign coaches, Indian football continues to struggle on the world stage.
Sadio Mané's journey began in the muddy streets of Bambali. At the age of fifteen, he ran away to the country's capital Dakar with nothing but the dream of becoming a footballer. His talent was refined at a football academy named ‘Generation Foot’.
Not just Mané, Ismaïla Sarr, Pape Matar Sarr, Papiss Cissé, and several other Senegalese stars also emerged from the same academy before making their mark in world football. Likewise, the Diambars Academy, established in 2003, produced talents including Idrissa Gueye. More than a quarter of Senegal's Africa Cup of Nations winning squad came from just these two academies. In Ghana, the Right to Dream Academy has produced modern stars such as Mohammed Kudus of West Ham United and Simon Adingra of Brighton. These academies, working closely with European clubs, have become lifelines for talented children from underprivileged backgrounds in African countries. The remarkable success of many underdeveloped nations in international football is not built on enormous government spending, but on the strength of academies like these.
In India, however, those entrusted with developing the game often seem to have priorities beyond football. While the rest of the world immerses itself in the excitement of the FIFA World Cup and debates the future of the sport, those responsible for Indian football are busy with political manoeuvring, power struggles, and renaming ceremonies. That alone says enough about the priorities of our football administration. As efforts continue to save their seats instead of building the game, the dreams of millions of children quietly fade away.
For many here, football is not merely a sport. It is survival. Whenever a ball rolls across a village ground, a muddy paddy field, or a school playground, a new talent is born. Every evening match played by children returning from school or young men exhausted after a day's work is their own World Cup. The football rolling at their feet represents the hopes of people who refuse to surrender their dreams despite limited opportunities. It symbolises a fight against circumstances. While the future of Indian football continues to be scripted inside air conditioned offices in New Delhi, the dreams of these children end on the very streets where they begin.
This is where India's failure becomes painfully visible. The argument that India lacks money to develop football simply does not hold. We have enough resources to organise leagues worth hundreds of crores and recruit foreign coaches. Beyond that, India's corporate sector and private investors possess enormous capital that can be used for their preferences. If channelised in the right direction, this money could build world class football academies and nurture talents in remotest villages. Private investments and Corporate Social Responsibility Funds could help in building African-model academies in partnership with international clubs to provide free training and education for students.
By following the African model and creating long term partnerships with leading international clubs, India can establish academies that provide free coaching, quality education, and a genuine pathway to professional football.
If four legends walking across Abbey Road gave the world one of music's most immortal images, then these five children walking across a zebra crossing in Kerala tell the story of a nation's unfinished football dream. Perhaps they are also taking the first steps towards becoming the next great footballer the world has yet to discover. The soul of a football loving nation is waiting for a saviour who can finally turn those dreams into reality.
(CK Vineeth is an Indian footballer who has played for various clubs including Chirag United, Kerala Blasters, Chennai FC and Bengaluru FC.)