India

Country snapshot

India sits in Southern Asia between Burma and Pakistan, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. With more than 1.1 billion people, it is the second most populated nation in the world behind China, but is growing faster, each year adding around the equivalent of Australia’s population to its total.

Less than half the size of Australia, India has 28 states and seven territories. Twenty-two official languages are spoken. India has one of the world’s fastest growing economies, particularly in areas such as IT, telecommunications and finance.

Famous for: cricket, the Indian Spin Quartet, the Taj Mahal, Ayurvedic medicine, telecommunications advice, inventing the game of snakes and ladders, banyan trees, spices.

Australian football history

Australian football is a relatively new sport on the subcontinent, with the game only gaining a foothold in the last 18 months.

But the foundation was laid in November, 2000, when former Melbourne player and Victorian politician Brian Dixon, secretary gGeneral of the Asiana Sport for All Association, approached the promoter of India’s traditional game, Kabaddi.

Two-and-a-half years later, Dixon finally convinced the Indians that footy had a future there and the Minister of Sports, Government of West Bengal, Kolkata University and the YMCA jumped on board.

India has fielded its first national side to compete in the 2008 International Cup. Most players have been playing the game for less than 12 months.

National jumper

The saffron, white and green of the flag of India.

Secret weapon

The star players are Mervin Nathaniel and Sukdeb Mondal for the fast, athletic play they bring from soccer. ‘The Magician and his assistant’ sounds like a marketable notion.

While cricket champion Ricky Ponting won’t actually be donning the India guernsey, he’s thrown his support behind the boys. And let’s face it, from KFC to VB, Weet-Bix to Valvoline, there’s nothing he can’t sell. Gee, I reckon India might go alright...

Meet the team

India is a young side, aged 18-26 years with the majority of players in the early 20s bracket.

Twelve of the 19 listed players weigh between 60 and 65kg. A couple of these guys are over 183cm tall – hopefully the weather isn’t too windy out at Warrnambool.

Indians are naturals at footy because ...

AFL India has recruited athletic, running type players mostly from Kolkata, where the people are generally smaller in height and weight compared to those from Northern India. Players have been drawn from soccer, rugby and Kabaddi.

Kabaddi, the traditional game of India, is a form of team wrestling, where players from the opposite team are tagged to eliminate them from the field. While it’s not a ball game, Kabaddi demands a high level of physical fitness, especially one particular version that requires players to hold their breath while making their way from one side of the field to the other.

Tactics

With all this Kabaddi pressure play, confining the opposition to small areas of the field, don’t be surprised if the Indian footy side is exceptionally good at flooding. Let’s just hope they remember to breathe!

• Top