Thread by @theCBsocial

In the 🇮🇳 football circuit, various companies have made their mark: Hero since 2014 & Reliance since 2010. Tata has been here for close to 100 years now! Jamshedpur FC is just the tip of that iceberg.

Presenting the Commitment of a Century: Tata & Indian football

A THREAD🧵

The journey of Tata in Indian football began in 1937, when Dorabji Tata formed Tata SC in Mumbai.
Football was quite popular in Mumbai back in the day as well. Rovers Cup and Harwood League were in their prime in the city.

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It's an extensively researched article. And a lack of proper information on the internet may have caused some errors. Feel free to add. Likes and retweets are appreciated ♥️.

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Tata SC football team won the Harwood a record 13 times(1945,48,50,53,58,60,61,64,66,67,73,75,79).

Reached the final of one of the most competitive competitions in India the Rovers Cup thrice:
1974: 2-3 East Bengal
1975: 0-1 Dempo
1977: 0-0 & 1-2 Mohunbagan

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Tata SC also clinched the Sait Nagjee trophy in 1973 (vs. Titanium XI of Kerala) & became the finalist two times (1972 vs RAC of Rajasthan, 1981 vs @mohunbagansg ).

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Tata SC was home to some of the superstars of that era. Babu Narayan (who represented 🇮🇳 in the 1956 & 1960 Olympics and the 1964 AFC Asian Cup) & Fortunato Franco (who played in the 1960 Olympics, the 1962 Asian Games & the 1964 AFC Asian Cup); was part of the Tata squad.

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Dev Das and Neville D'Souza, both of whom represented India in the Olympics, also played for Tata SC in the domestic circuit. D'Souza was the hero of India's 4-2 win against Australia in 1956 and was the first Asian to score a hat-trick in the Olympics.

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It was in the 1980s that the Tata stakeholders realized that the true potential of Indian football lies in the youth. And with the enthusiasm of Mr. JRD Tata, Tata Steel chairman Mr. Russy Mody established the Tata Football Academy in 1987 in Jamshedpur.

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The founder of the Tata Group, Jamshedji Tata, suggested establishing suitable sporting facilities in a letter to his son Dorabji in 1902 while Jamshedpur was being constructed. So the city's football facilities were already top-notch.

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Within no time, Tata Football Academy rose to prominence. With the appointments of some of the best, such as MD Habib, Shyam Thapa, Chuni Goswami, and PK Bannerjee, it became a supply line of talent.

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Among all TFA graduates, 143 have donned the national colours, and 24 have captained India across age groups. That's a huge number! There were at least 12 players per batch who earned national team caps each year between 1992 and 2010.

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TFA is the first academy in India to provide a state-of-the-art facility with its own grounds, hostel, gym, etc.

TFA has wot age group teams: U19 (Sr) & U15 (Jr. It began to participate in the leagues around the country & impressively won a couple of them.

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Major Accolades of TFA:

2000: Bordoloi Trophy
2003: Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup
2005/06: NFL 2nd Division
2008: U19 I-League
2011: Darjeeling Gold Cup
2014: U19 I-League
2016: IFA Shield

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During the pre-90s period, most of the players (if not all) from North East India shined through Kolkata clubs. But on the other hand, it was stagnating their own growth as there were no academies or grassroots setups in the area.

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Arguably, Tata Football Academy took charge of structuring that.

As of 2018, Tata Football Academy has 80 grassroot football centres in Manipur and Mizoram, as well as a Centre of Excellence in Mizoram (Aizawl). It helped the region produce a lot of talent.

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In 2017, TFA entered into a deal with Atletico Madrid. Atletico Madrid was with ATK for the first 4 seasons, but disagreements over youth setup caused the Madrid club to separate from the entity.
Within a year, they shook hands with Tata.

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The TFA × Atletico deal details:

🤝Technical support
🤝knowledge exchanges
🤝scouting help
🤝Renaming of the academy as ‘Tata Atlético Football Academia’
🤝The club also agreed to provide a fulltime coach (Carlos Santamarina, current @InterKashi manager)

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Early in 2007, Tata shook hands with @Arsenal to start 'Tata Tea Arsenal Soccer Stars', an u10 and u15 school tournament in India. From there, 30 selected footballers got training from Arsenal coaches, and 15 got to visit Arsenal's UK facility.

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There are four major criticisms that TFA has faced over the years.

Criticism 1️⃣:
TFA scouted at the teenager level, not at the grassroot level. They later formed 80 grassroot centres in the Northeast, which not only helped the region but also helped the academy itself.

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Criticism 2️⃣:
Since the leading clubs already focused on their own youths and graduates from TFA have not been called up to the national team in those previous numbers (2012: 6 and 2014: 3), the huge talent pool from every batch has begun to be wasted.

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Criticism 3️⃣:
Primarily, TFA was included among the corporate social responsibilities of Tata Steel, and it couldn't include foreign players. So, despite winning the 2nd division in 2005, they decided not to take part in the top tier.

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Criticism 4️⃣:
Previously, in 2014, when the ISL was formed, Tata had turned down the offer to feature in the ISL, a move that had also been criticized by its own coaches. A conglomerate like Tata needed a bigger football entity.

Which they started in 2017.

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Jamshedpur FC was formed in 2017 by Tata Steel. In the last six seasons of their existence, they topped the group and won the ISL Shield once: in the 2021/22 season.

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There is a big difference between Jamshedpur FC and other ISL clubs. All the other outfits of the ISL were based in those metropolitans where football was already popular. Contrary to that, Jamshedpur was neither a metropolitan city nor had a proven fanbase.

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And along with that, if we exclude the legacy clubs, the 'Red Miners' are the sole team that has its own stadium facilities and the only one whose facilities are being used in the ISL: the JRD Tata Sports Complex, which opened back in 1991.

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Between 1980s and 2000s, Tata was the biggest football promoter in 🇮🇳. They bought some of the best foreign teams.

1984: @SaoPauloFC
1986: @VfLBochum1848EN
1989: @SaoPauloFC
1991: @PSV
1994: @Lyn1896FK
2007: @SaoPauloFC

[Extensive details in the Alt]
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Tata's contribution to Indian Football isn't much celebrated. Be it Tata SC, TFA, or Jamshedpur FC of today, TATA's long-standing support is contributing to the rise of Indian football.

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Retweets are appreciated 🔁❤️

Here is another thread about the contribution of @HeroMotoCorp to Indian football. Give it a read:

https://twitter.com/theCBsocial/status/1659600110102401024?s=20