The sudden resignation by Golam Rabbani Choton from the elevated post of head coach of the Bangladesh National Women's Football team has stirred quite a ripple in the sport arena of this country. Men's football here has long been in a moribund state. At a time when the women's team has been basking in South Asian glory --- they are the current champions of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) --- and were hoping for scaling greater heights in the future, the departure of the main architect behind their success certainly comes as a shock to the girls in particular and to the nation in general. A few of the winning team members' voluntary withdrawal from the camp and saying goodbye to football at the same time only raise the concern that the team may not be the same again with its weakening in formation and psychologically.
Sure enough, there is a story, not all of which is ever likely to be public, behind Choton's departure and the players' exodus which cannot be ignored. Ever since the triumph in SAFF championship in Nepal last year, the girls have played hardly any match. The management of the Bangladesh Football Federation cannot avoid the responsibility for its failure to send the women's team to Myanmar for Olympic qualifiers on the flimsy excuse of crisis of fund. Then the franchise women's football, proudly declared first ever in Asia, named here as Bangladesh Women's super League was supposed to begin in mid-May but it was now scheduled to start from today with four teams. But strangely, there is no news about this in any of the leading newspapers known for covering sports news. Will the super league start at all?
If Rabbani, perhaps the most successful local coach, and his charges feel ignored, slighted and even undermined, he and the girls cannot be blamed. With his exit, women's football is unlikely to be the same again. It has every likelihood of following in the footsteps of the men's football team. Although BFF president, whose leadership is now in question, claims no one is indispensable and one goes and is replaced by another, everyone who follows the country's football --- particularly women's football --- here knows that Choton is irreplaceable. It is his dedication, passion and pride he feels for the country and above all his love for football that have driven him to give his all for the cause of the game. This is what really explains the governing motive behind making coaching his mantra that changed women's football with paltry monetary support whereas poring of huge fund into men's football failed to pull the game out of the rut.
Rabbani appears to be a man of action, not of hollow words or what is called rhetoric. So he did not speak much about his resignation and future. But one thing is clear that he feels circumspect to clear out his mind. Grievances notwithstanding, he would not speak --- that is the impression one gets from the unpalatable episode. True, coaching of a team --- be it football, cricket, hockey or other games --- is a tough and nerve-racking job. Similarly, coaching a tennis player, a gymnast, a boxer or an athlete of other disciplines is no less challenging. Money, reputation at times worldwide fame and respect are at stake.
There are immense pressure, high-voltage stress, emotion and a haunting sense of failure to translate the coaching knowledge into players' performance on the field, anxiety to keep ready in stock plan B or plan C if the plan A fails to deliver. How often football team managers --- they are no longer mere coaches --- in Europe's top leagues, particularly England's Premier League, are fired can highlight the rigour of managing a football team. One has to have nerves of steel.
Even a manager of Pep Gardiola's calibre had to take a break in 2012-13 after winning for FC Barcelona everything a coach can with a football club and expressed his desire to go on a sabbatical when his contract expires with the Manchester City now at the doorstep of winning the treble with two already under his belt. If Manchester City win the UEFA Champions Trophy tonight, he will win the treble with two different football teams. Choton did not indicate before he needed any such break; rather he hoped big with his team. This is why the episode casts a long shadow of gloom and doubt.
In this context, let's have a deeper look into the coaching job. In an interview, on completion of his level-3 coaching course, with a sports reporter of a contemporary Mohammad Ashraful, one of the gifted cricketers in this country, made it amply clear that he wants to take coaching as a career. However another paper reports that he wants to end his career as a selector. Be that what it may, Ashraful's comment on the dark chapter of the ban the ICC imposed on him for match fixing in 2013 is quite revealing. He now appreciates how important it is to take care of members of the national team ---both physically and mentally. Hopefully, his experience will be invaluable for nurturing both budding cricketing talents and those who make it to the top flight.
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