CaptainSpeak | A Conversation with Chirag Chinnappa

Ishaan Banerji, Class of 2019

In conversation with Chirag Chinnappa, Captain of the Men’s football team of Ashoka University.

Seeing Chirag play on the field, as the main striker of the men’s football team, you probably wouldn’t imagine that there was ever a time in his life when the tall, lanky fellow wasn’t heading goals for fun, but that time wasn’t that long ago.

Chirag Chinnappa, the captain of the men’s football team, was a professional tennis player in class 10. Sports is clearly one of his fortes. In class 11, he had to decide whether to move forward with professional tennis, or continue with school, and finish class 12. He made the hard decision to leave tennis as a competitive sport, and while looking for a sport to play recreationally, found a bunch of people playing football in a public park near his home. Chirag picked it up quickly, and soon became part of his school team, though by his own admission, he got a lot more used to a spot on the bench than a spot on the playing 11 in school.

“I didn’t expect the change in culture, when I came to Ashoka”, he says, when I ask him about whether there was a difference between playing as part of his school team, and playing as part of Ashoka’s football team. “Being part of the football team back home was a sign of your love for the game, and of your commitment to it”, but that didn’t quite translate when Chirag joined Ashoka. There was a functioning team when he came in, but as can be expected with a batch of 130 UG students, there was only a small group playing on the team. There were some seniors of his who were extremely passionate about football, but in general, he reckons that there’s not enough commitment to the game at Ashoka.

“It’s difficult to keep people motivated, as a captain”, Chirag remarked as our conversation unravelled. “Why do you think that is?” I asked him, though I didn’t expect his answer: “No idea”. Clearly, being the captain of a team isn’t an easy task.

He points at personal priorities as one aspect of the issue. Football, and sports in general, isn’t high enough on the list of priorities of most people. There are often people who aren’t coming to practice because something else came up, and they didn’t shrug that off for football. As Chirag pointed out, there’s not much to be done about one’s priorities. However, something that he thinks can be changed is the level of facilities at Ashoka University, and the attitude towards sports that the Administration and higher-ups in the University hold.

Currently, there’s one half-a-cricket-field, which is being encroached upon by the faculty building being built, and one football field that is only big enough for 9-a-side and isn’t even maintained well-enough to be grassy throughout the year. There wasn’t even a functioning tennis court on campus until last month. Issues like these cannot be solved immediately, as it’s a question of space more than anything at this point, but it reflects the importance given to sports during the planning of the University. The sports programs here are suffering, as they’re often considered secondary to academic and other extra-curricular programs. People high up in the chain of command of the University need to take note of the sporting potential on campus, and take steps to realize it, for there’s only so much a football team can do practicing 9-a-side throughout the year.

As captain, the issues he faced included issues of the pitch, and of a larger nature than strategies and line-ups. There’s not enough funding to send teams out to play and compete regularly, and “without tournaments, there’s not enough exposure or scope for improvement in the team” according to Chirag. Players have to pay for their jerseys as well, which is not a common practice across universities. While this is not a major issue, it is representative of how the college could make processes smoother and easier for sports-persons but isn’t. Along with that, the fact that attendance isn’t always guaranteed for sports-persons representing the University is something of a thorn in any athlete’s side. While the OAA forwards information about the student’s activities to the relevant professors whenever something like this comes up, it is still the professor who has the last word on whether the person is penalized for not attending class.

Talking about the football team, Chirag is happy about how the team has been improving year on year, with more people coming in and wanting to play football. When I asked him about his best moments as captain, he pointed his first trophy win at Gateway College, Sonipat in August 2018 as a standout moment.

However, he also said that the feeling he gets when he takes warm-up before matches is unparalleled, as it is always a moment of great anticipation and pride as captain. An incident during the Agneepath semi-final still stands out for him among his footballing memories. He missed a penalty during the shootout against Jindal, and the team went on to lose the match. Chirag was shamelessly unembarrassed about the whole affair.

As captain, the biggest difference he’s felt has been the pressure on the pitch. “I’m not just playing my own game, I’m playing 10 other person’s games, and I’m also playing the bench’s game”, a mentally exhausting activity which coupled with the pressure sometimes becomes difficult. Nonetheless, he’s enjoyed being captain for the last year, speaking especially about the great pride that it is to represent the team and Ashoka University.

He also took a moment to appreciate Shashwat Ghatiwala, who has been a great help for Chirag over the period of his captaincy. When I asked him about what role football plays in his life, he didn’t have to think much about it before proclaiming that it was a massive part of his life, structuring his days, his weeks and pretty much his entire year.

When the conversation turned to the difference between the men’s and women’s team, he said that he’s extremely proud of the way the women’s team functions, not only showing commitment but also showing results on the field. However, he said that he had noticed a regrettable difference in the way the two teams were perceived, with the women’s team never being considered on the same level as the men’s, though they’ve been much more successful in tournaments. He spoke with pride about how the guys in the team are invested in the girls team and always show up for their matches, and vice versa.

Chirag spoke highly of Sunil Dahiya, the Sports-In-Charge of the University, and believes that he’s doing the best he can, with an understaffed sports department and not much backing from the administration. He’s sure that with a better support system, Mr. Dahiya will be able to greatly improve the sports programmes at Ashoka. He said that he knows of people who’ve chosen Jindal over Ashoka simply because of the better sports facilities across the highway, and suggested that if sports and sporting abilities could be taken into account during the admissions process, Ashoka is bound to better its sporting record.

As a closing comment to our talk, Chirag mentioned that he’s happy about how skill is increasing in the football team, but is still slightly puzzled about how to encourage and bring out the kind of passion that he has for football in the Ashokan community.