goanet-digest Friday, May 3 2002 Volume 01 : Number 3927
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In this issue:
[Goanet] FEATURE: NFL's foreign strikers: step forward or own goal? (Indian
Express)
[Goanet] FBI was warned of suspicious flight students
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Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 01:17:23 +0530 (IST)
From: Frederick Noronha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] FEATURE: NFL's foreign strikers: step forward or own goal? (Indian
Express)
NFL's foreign strikers: step forward or own goal?
[The Indian Express * April 28, 2002]
T h e d o m i n a n c e
of foreigners in
the score-sheets has
put home-grown
players
in the shade.
By MICKY AIGNER
THEY CAME, they saw and conquered. Ghanaian Yusif Yakubu (Churchill
Brothers) and Brazilian Baretto (Mohun Bagan), the top two scorers in the
recently concluded National Football League, netted 33 goals between
them. While it brought in rich dividents for their clubs (Bagan went on to
win the league) it has raised one vital question: Has Indian football --
and have Indian footballers -- gained in the bargain?
Baichung Bhutia's success and IM Vijayan's brilliance have been noticed
abroad, but such successes are few and far between. The domestic league is
peppered with strikers who can never wear the Indian jersey; the top scorer
in each of the past four seasons has been a foreigner (see box).
- -------------------------
Clubs have made the
NFL too commercial,
putting aside the
concept of producing
caliber players for
India. What's the use
of laurels when
one cannot produce?
- -- India's goal-keeping
coach Brahmanand
- -------------------------
Ask what went wrong and a host of theories surface.
Over-dependence on foreigners, a short-sighted attitude of coaches who
preferred ready-made material from abroad rather than groom local talent. As
competition grew, so too did the demand on clubs; it became easier to shop
around than grow at home.
It may sound odious -- and self-defeating -- to draw comparisons but the
same story plays out in Europe. The arguments have been going on for years
in England, where the national squad lacks a mid-field -- or even a
goal-keeper -- to match those of its top three clubs. The most obvious
fallout is cosmopolitan Chelsea, where few English footballers stand a
chance.
The club and the AIFF are to blame, says India's goal-keeping coach
Brahmanand Shankwalkar. "Clubs have made the NFL too commercial, putting
aside the concept of producing caliber players for India. What's the use of
laurels when one cannot produce?
Why blame the clubs, asks Churchill Brothers owner Joaquim Alemao. "Blame
the federation, whose rules permit each team to play four foreign players in
a match." The reason, he says, is pure business. "We, or for that matter any
team, spend a huge sum getting players and I don't suppose targeting a title
after doing so is an issue."
Six years -- the life of the NFL to date -- is enough time for Indian
footballers to hone their natural skills, says Shyam Thapa, whose trademark
bicycle kick made him a feared striker in the 1970s. Curbs are needed on
foreign players. One way of doing this, he says, is by making grooming of
players a criterion for the best coach award.
India has, over the years, seen class players in Cheema Okerie, Majid
Baskar, Jamshed Nasseri, Chibuzor Nwakanma, Percy Mawse, Stephan Abarowei,
Sunday Seah to name a few, but has churned out very few to match their
potential.
"The league is overcrowded now and our players have been relegated to
also-rans," says Thapa. For the record, the sixth NFL saw 11 foreigners
score more than five goals for their team, which included four hat-tricks
(two by Yakubu, and one each by Abdul Ganiyu (Churchill), Mike Okoro (ITI)
and Akeem (Tollygunge).
For the record, both Yakubu and Baretto are unsure of how long they'll
continue in India; they say they wish to keep their options open. But for
every Barretto, there will be another Brazilian walking in, for every Yakubu
another from Africa.
Thapa asks, "How do you expect our boys to learn then? The work is already
done the moment they get their chance."
The ball now seems to be in the AIFF's court. It needs to act fast. It could
implement its idea of a much-delayed under-19 league -- aimed at developing
a second line of attack for each club. (ENDS)
*********************************************************************
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOUR IN NATIONAL LEAGUE
*********************************************************************
1st NFL: Baichung Bhutia (East Bengal) 14 goals
2nd NFL: Raman Vijayan (FCK) 10 goals; CHIMA OKERI (Mohun Bagan; Nigeria) 9
goals; Baichung Bhutia (E Bengal) 8 goals and Chibuzor Nawakanma (Churchill:
Nigeria) 7 goals.
3rd NFL: PHILIP MENSAH (Churchill, Ghana) 11 goals; Raman Vijayan (EB) 10
goals; Bruno Coutinho (Salgaocar) 9 goals; Md Najeeb (FCK) 8 goals.
4th NFL: IGOR SHKVYRIN (Bagan; Uzbekistan) 11 goals; Francis Silveira
(Churchill; 10 goals); Roque Barretto (Churchill); Sylvester Ignatius (SBT),
Md Najeeb (M&M), ISSAC TONDO (FCK; Liberia) 8 each.
5th NFL: JOSE BARETTO (Bagan, Brazil) 14 goals; IGOR SHKVYRIN (Churchill;
Uzbekistan) 12 goals: RC Prakash (Bagan) 10 goals; Hardeep Gill (JCT);
OMOLOJA OLEKAN (East Bengal, Nigeria); SUNDAY SEAH (FCK, Liberia) 8 goals
each.
6th NFL: YUSIF YAKUBU (Churchill; Ghana) 17 goals; JOSE BARETTO (Bagan,
Brazil) 16 goals; RUI WANDERLEY WEIS (Vasco; Brazil) 10 goals; AKEN ABDUL
ALEM (Tollygunge; Nigeria), SUNDAY SEAH (Salgaocar, Liberia) 9 each. ***
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 03 May 2002 20:52:43 +0000
From: "Sachin Naik" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] FBI was warned of suspicious flight students
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two months before the suicide hijackings, an FBI
agent in Arizona alerted Washington headquarters that several Middle
Easterners were training at a U.S. aviation school and recommended
contacting other schools nationwide where Arabs might be studying.
"FBIHQ should discuss this matter with other elements of the U.S.
intelligence
community and task the community for any information that supports Phoenix's
suspicions," the agent recommended in the memo obtained by The Associated
Press.
The FBI sent the intelligence to its terrorism experts in Washington and New
York
for analysis and had begun discussing conducting a nationwide canvass of
flight
schools when the September 11 tragedies occurred, officials told AP.
At least one leader of the 19 hijackers, Hani Hanjour, received flight
training in
Arizona in 2001 but his name had not surfaced in the FBI intelligence from
Arizona,
the officials said.
None of the Middle Eastern men identified by the Arizona counterterrorism
agents
or any information contained in their July 2001 memo pointed to the suicide
plot
that leveled the World Trade Center and killed thousands in New York,
Washington
and Pennsylvania, officials said.
"None of the people i dentified by Phoenix are connected to the September 11
attacks," FBI Assistant Director John Collingwood said Thursday night.
"The Phoenix communication went to appropriate operational agents and
analysts
but it did not lead to uncovering the impending attacks," Collingwood said.
Officials said FBI counterterrorism agents in Phoenix were suspicious why
several
Arab men were seeking airport operations, security information and pilot
training.
The agents recommended that the FBI begin alerting local offices when Middle
Easterners sought visas for training at local aeronautical schools.
"FBIHQ should consider seeking the necessary authority to obtain visa
information
from the USDOS (State Department) on individuals obtaining visas to attend
these
types of schools and notify the appropriate FBI field office when these
individuals
are scheduled to arrive in their area of responsibility," the memo said.
Sketchy tips before September 11
The FBI's concerns about the U.S. flight schools is the latest revelation
about
information, much of it sketchy, that the government possessed before
September
11 concerning the possibility of terrorism in the skies. For example:
The AP reported last month that Filipino authorities alerted the FBI as
early as 1995
that several Middle Eastern pilots were training at American flight schools
and at least
one had proposed hijacking a commercial jet and crashing it into federal
buildings.
A month after the 2001 memo from Arizona to FBI headquarters, FBI agents in
Minnesota arrested a French citizen of Moroccan descent, Zacarias Moussaoui,
after a
flight school instructor became suspicious of his desire to learn to fly a
commercial jet.
Moussaoui has since emerged as the single most important defendant in the
post-September 11 terrorism investigation, charged with conspiring with the
hijackers and Osama bin Laden to kill thousands of Americans. Prosecutors
are
seeking the death penalty.
About the same time as the Phoenix memo and Moussaoui's arrest, U.S.
intelligence
issued a late summer warning that there was heightened risk of a terrorist
attack on
Americans, possibly even on U.S. soil, officials have said.
Law enforcement officials said in retrospect the FBI believes it should have
accelerated the suggested check of U.S. flight schools after Moussaoui's
arrest, but
does not believe it would have led to the hijackers.
FBI officials said a supervisory agent in Arizona wrote a several-page memo
to FBI
headquarters in July 2001 laying out information his counterterrorism team
had
developed in an unrelated investigation. A portion of the memo dealt with an
Arizona flight school, officials said.
The memo indicated agents were suspicious about why several nonresident Arab
men were seeking training at a commercial aeronautical school in Prescott,
Arizona.
Collingwood said the men "were enrolled in various aspects of civil aviation
engineering, airport operations and pilot training." The agents were
particularly
concerned that some were attempting to learn about airport security
operations,
officials said.
The Phoenix memo urged FBI headquarters to assemble a list of U.S. aviation
academies and to instruct field offices across the country to make
"appropriate
liaison" with their local schools where other Middle Easterners might be
training.
Information sent to terrorism experts
The information was shared with intelligence analysts who monitored
terrorist
threats and was even sent to the FBI office in New York that had the most
experience with terrorism cases, officials said.
After the suicide attacks, the FBI quickly descended upon flight schools
nationwide, identifying academies in Florida, Arizona and elsewhere where
the
leaders of the 19 hijackers trained.
Hanjour, believed to have piloted the jetliner that crashed into the
Pentagon, trained
at a flight academy in Phoenix between January and March 2001, the
government
has said in court documents.
Some witnesses have also said they believe another hijacker, Ziad Samir
Jarrah,
trained on an Arizona flight simulator in the months before the attacks. But
the FBI
has no evidence that either man was connected to the Prescott school
identified in
the July 2001 memo, officials said.
The FBI also investigated whether an Algerian pilot who spent time in
Arizona may
have helped train the hijackers before leaving the United States before the
attacks.
That man, Lotfi Raissi, was later apprehended in Britain, but U.S. officials
failed to
persuade a court there to extradite him to the United States. Law
enforcement
officials say their suspicions about his connections to the hijackers have
since
fizzled.
An Arizona businessman who assisted U.S. intelligence said he alerted the
FBI in
the mid-1990s that one or more Middle Eastern pilots were training or
working in
his state and appeared suspicious.
Harry Ellen said he told an FBI agent in Phoenix in late 1996 or early 1997
that he
met an Algerian pilot and several Middle Eastern men at an Arizona mosque.
Ellen
assisted U.S. intelligence during the 1990s but later had a falling out over
his
business and personal dealings in Asia and the Middle East.
"I brought this to the attention of an agent in the local FBI whom I knew,"
Ellen
said. "They did not seem particularly interested in the presence of these
people. I
stressed it was very odd that the Algerian man was involved in aviation."
"One of the other men I believe was probably Mr. Raissi, although he would
have
been thinner and younger at the time," Ellen said.
Law enforcement officials said that while Ellen helped the FBI, agents in
Arizona
have no record or recollection of him providing information about pilots.
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End of goanet-digest V1 #3927
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