One wonders at the wealth of talents available to this place which cannot stand comparison to any of the state either in size or in resources. It could possible for this state of affair because Football undoubtedly has been the most popular game in the Union Territory right from the days of French Regime.

     During the French days a tournament known as "coup de l'Inde" used to be every year and some of the outstanding players of those days, to name a few Messrs. E.Tetta, Sandanam ignace, Maxime de la Victorie, Carnot, R.E. Brothers, Rangan, are still fondly remembered by the football enthusiasts. The prominent clubs during the later part of the French days were cercle sportif Pondicherry, Nid Amical, Military team, Rodiar team, Etooile du Matin, Reveil Amical and La Lumiere. Apart from the "coupe De l'lnde" there were tournaments conducted by CSP Club in which teams form Kerala, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Chennai used to participate. However, the credit for finding a place for Pondicherry in the sports map of India goes to the PONDICHERRY FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION.

     Until the inception of this Association, local players had very few opportunities to exhibit their talent outside Pondicherry. This opportunity was offered only after the formation of the Association in 1962, and the football enthusiasts of this State are indebted to Mr.E.Tetta, Founder President, and Mr.P.K. Ramachandiran, Founder secretary, who took a leading part in the formation of the Association. It is remembered with gratitude the esteemed guidance and advice given by Mr.N.Vittal, Vice-President of the All India Football Federation and Mr.J.E.Nelson Isaccs, the president of the Tamil Nadu Football Association, which made our association a fait accompli. Since then the Pondicherry Football Association which was initially affiliated with the then Madras Football Association had increased the game in popularity and more clubs were formed.

     The performance of the Association teams are only too well known to followers of the game. Players sporting the shirt of the Pondicherry Football Association have distinguished themselves so much that many of them have been snatched away by some of the top teams of Tamil Nadu and a good number of them have done the Tamil Nadu Football Association Colours.

     The performance of Pondicherry Football Association team during the years 1970 to 1982 was much appreciable and in one year i.e. in 1971 the Pondicherry Football Association was winner of coveted Tamil Nadu Football Association shield tournament held at Chennai, M.G.R. Rolling trophy, All India Invitation tournament held at Pondicherry, Dr. Suburayan memorial tournament held at Coimbatore and Runners cup Inter district tournament conducted by Tamil Nadu FootBall Association. It had defeated many top teams of those days which include B.S.F Jallandar, Mafatlal Mills Mumbai etc.

     Contribution of Pondicherry Football Association is twofold in popularizing the game in our union territory and also in offering opportunities to improve the standard of the game. The Annual Football tournaments are conducted both for local and outstation teams. The Annual league championship is conducted for Padmini and Ragini Rolling trophies for first and second division teams. An all India invitation football tournament for M.G.R Rolling trophies was conducted without interruption upto the year 1997. This tournament conducted by us were considered as great festival being patronized by the enthusiastic football minded public in general and the industrial workers in particular. Under the precedentship of Mr.Abhijit Mithra I.P.S and Secretaryship of Mr.C.Bathmanabam during the years 1970-1972, the standard of the Pondicherry team was in peak form .

     A moral boosting event took place during the presidency of Dr.S.Anandavelu and the Secretaryship of Mr.S.Kanagasabapathy when our Association got the affiliation with the AIFF in the year 1976. There after under the presidentship of Mr.P.Kodandabany and Mr.S.Panchapakesan and the Secretaryship of Mr.V.Balasubramanian the Organization made significant strides in the development of the game. The teams from Northern States were started participating in the M.G.R trophy tournaments. For the first time in the football history of pondicherry the first National Championship viz 20th Junior National Football Championship for Dr.B.C.Roy Trophy was Conducted in Pondicherry Petit Seminare Higher Secondary School Ground in the year 1982 with entire financial contribution raised by our association.

     It is noteworthy to say that after 1997 under the presidentship of Ln.S.Selvaganthi and Secretaryship of Mr.V.Balasubramanian our activities have been our best record so far. In the year 2000, the Pondicherry Millennium Football tournament was conducted with the support of the then Government Ministers and officers of the Pondicherry Administration under the flood lights erected for this tournament in the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex Pondicherry. Almost all the top teams of 1st division National league except one or two and the Indian Junior XI had participated in this prestigious event. A total prize money of 11 lakhs was awarded to the teams reached the first four level. In the year 2004 the 2nd division National League was conducted at Pondicherry in which the Dempo Sports Club, Goa and the Indian Bank Chennai got their promotion to first Division National League. The 5th Junior level girls under 19 football Championship was conducted in the year 2007. Apart from this, various age group zonal National Championships were also conducted. The first ever 'C' License coaching course was conducted at Pondicherry in December 2006.

     Our association is organizing coaching camps periodically for the participation of teams in the national events and promising age group players are shaped into better footballers from grass root to senior level. Our girls of the age group teams are performing in excellent manner especially in under thirteen and Sub-Junior level. In the 6th girls Sub-Junior National championship concluded on 14-10-2009 at Haldwani, Uttarakhand our team got 3rd place next to formidable Manipur and Orissa teams, the winner and runner of the championship. The performance of our team is applauded and appreciated by Mr.Alberto Colaco the General secretary and other technical committee members of the All India Football Federation. Three of our players namely Varalakshmi, Sangeetha and Radha already represented the Indian team in the under 13 and under 14 football festivals competition conducted by AFC at Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

     It may not be out of place to mention that although we have made some progress in our effects to popularized and develop the game of football in our Union Territory, we are handicapped by the absence of adequate football fields and stadiums in our union territory. If we have separate football stadium for conducting our association activities which are spreaded over round the year, it could be possible to achieve supremacy in our standard of game as well as for the formation of the professional teams. Finance of the associations unfortunately does not permit us to acquire our own ground. If we are receiving the goodwill and assistance from the government of Pondicherry as well as from the AIFF for providing us the facility of separate football stadium for our association use which could be constructed in the AFT former football field Pondicherry, we hope that we could able to develop the standard of the game without any hindrance to greater heights and a large number of talented players could be made available from Pondicherry for representing our National teams.