Cricket's out, soccer rules in J&K

Kashmir: Gun-toting security men watch from a distance as a bunch of young boys and middle-aged men go through their morning drill before the start of a friendly soccer game.

Grounds across the picturesque state of Srinagar, summer capital of the strife-torn state of Jammu and Kashmir, reflect a lost love for soccer and the beautiful game has replaced cricket for the time being as their favourite passion.

Football's biggest event is being beamed live on television screens in the state and it has become the centre of attraction across homes in the Valley.

After watching the heroics of their favourite stars, dozens each day trek to the nearest ground to re-live their fantasies.

Nazir Ahmad, a carpet seller by profession, says the World Cup has revived his one time passion and many like him wait for the morning to try out the tricks seen in the previous evening's game.

"There is tremendous zest for football because of the World Cup. The boys want to be like Ronaldo and Zidane. There is so much passion for football right now," Ahmad says.

During the dark days of a bloody 17-year-old insurgency that began in 1989, almost all sports had to make a hasty retreat as venturing out in early morning or evenings was considered risky.

Terrorism has taken toll of nearly 45,000 people in these 17 years. But there are signs of improvement.

"The atmosphere out here was quite bad during the past 20 years. It was very difficult for us to play but in the last three four years we have begun to play again. Tournaments are also being held both at stadiums and at college levels. There is a revival," says a tour operator and a football enthusiast, Altaf Ahmad Zakir.

Most youngsters took to sports and those who excelled were given state patronage.

For many sports was their ticket to a secure Government job, but the unrest changed all that.

With the onset of insurgency, job opportunities dried up, clubs became defunct and competitions became a thing of the past.

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President of Jammu and Kashmir Football association, Zamir Ahmad Thakur, says football was a fairly popular sport the region during the 1960's and 1970's but then slowly faded into the background as cricket, with its intense Indo-Pak rivalry, captured public imagination.

"Here in Kashmir the whole atmosphere was very bad. No one could get out of their house, nobody could dare to play here because bullets were flying all around so everyone preferred to stay at home," Thakur told Reuters Television.

A thaw in political relations between India and Pakistan in the last two years has helped improve law and order situation and the clubs and tournaments are being revived, albeit under the shadow of gun-toting security men whose presence is meant to thwart any untoward incidents.

"This World Cup has infused a new life into the game of football here in the Valley. Almost all the football clubs that were affiliated with us - many of which had actually become defunct - decided to play again, once they saw the impact of the World Cup all over the world, the kind of cheer it was bringing to the faces of people," says Thakur.

Although cricket rules on either side of the border, Kashmir is one of the few regions where a significant number of youngsters opt for soccer over cricket.

Neither India nor Pakistan has ever played in World Cup finals.

However, millions of cricket-mad fans in India have switched allegiance to soccer for the World Cup.

India, twice former Asian Games champions, have faded away even in their own continent over the last 20 years.