Chatting with Sunil Chhetri Premium

Sunil Chhetri managed to keep the fans and the press happy while helping maintain the sanctity of the athlete-journalist relationship

A sports press conference is a contested zone. There are, in essence, two interested parties: the journalist who is forever on the lookout for a headline-worthy quote or a slip-of-the-tongue statement, and the athlete who is there as the single access point of the team and with the sole aim of controlling the narrative.

Equally, it is a place where relationships are built and mutual respect established. Routine appearances at press meets often convey your journalistic seriousness and rigour, and the player in turn starts looking at you as a constructive critic and not an adversary. Land a few minutes early, there may even be an opportunity for an informal chat.

In the eight-and-a-half years I have spent covering Sunil Chhetri, as leader of the Indian National football team and as talisman of Indian Super League (ISL) side Bengaluru FC (BFC), I have experienced both facets. He was the beating heart of both country and club, and everyone wanted a piece of him. And Chhetri obliged, making blurb-writers happy, but mostly on his own terms, and with due respect to the fourth estate.

On the day of his retirement from international football on June 6, he even wrote a heartfelt letter reflecting this. “There were times when I had to say a lot less than I would have like to, and others where I responded with long monologues,” he said. “There were the answers laced with frustration, the ones that were — much to your annoyance — non committal, and then the press conferences that ended in a hurry.

“But through it all, I’d like to believe that I was always honest with you. And that I always chose to have a conversation, even if it risked making headlines for reasons beyond those that I would have liked. Thank you for the love and adulation and thank you for the times when you have been honest in your assessment. Yours isn’t an easy job, but a really important one.”

In mid-2021, when tennis star Naomi Osaka opted out of press conferences at the French Open citing the effects of those interactions on her mental health, many commentators were quick to side with the four-time Major champion and label these exchanges as pointless.

Lost in the din was the fact that a media briefing was the last of the democratic spaces where every reporter, big or small, had an equal right to pose a question. Chhetri, through the years, ensured that it remained that way. He answered every question with utmost sincerity, and treated all those assembled with dignity.