Theres Koyas net behind all major goalposts

KOZHIKODE: There are two things that have remained constant in the Indian football scenario over the past 20 years.One is the national team’s consistently abject performance. The other is the presence of Hamsa Koya’s nets behind the goalposts. For 20 years, this one-man army from Malappuram has been making nets to the envy of many international providers.He has provided nets for a wide array of international tournaments including the Nehru Cup and the SAF Cup, not to mention the many domestic leagues that are hosted every year. “I have just sent the nets for the next season of I-League championships to Bangalore,” he says.There is a reason why his nets find such acceptance among the football community. “I make the nets from a twine which is a mix of nylon and the rope that traditional fishermen use to make their fishing net. The twine alone costs Rs 4,000 per net. The weak ones available in the market at Rs 1,000 will break after a match or two. But mine often lasts up to a decade,” Koya claims.It is not just domestic football officials who have taken a shine to Hamsa Koya’s nets.“Once during an international tournament in Chennai, a Chinese official sought me out to commend me on the quality of the nets. It was he who taught me how to make the holes in these nets small enough to stop the ball yet big enough to not interfere with the vision of television cameras,” he says.And Hamsa Koya’s contributions to football do not end there. When he is not busy making nets, Koya crafts the next generation of Indian football. He runs a football academy in Manjeri and three of his academy products have already represented India in various age groups. Currently, he is temporarily coaching the National Institute of Technology-Calicut football team, which recently triumphed in the Kozhikode ‘D’ Division Football League.