'I Want To Inspire Others And Help Us As A Nation'

'I'm looking at it as a chance to play international football, to represent India, and to hopefully inspire other players with a similar background to me, to show them that they can come to India and do the same thing.'

A litany of problems has ravaged Indian football over the last 18 months.

The sacking of coach Igor Stimac in June 2024 after five years in charge, the subsequent stepping down of Spaniard Manolo Marquez, a slew of disappointing results and the consequent fall in rankings, Indian football is in the doldrums.

Last week, the pall of gloom was lifted ever so slightly, a ray of hope extended to the Beautiful Game in India.

Relinquishing his Australian passport, Perth-born Ryan Williams received his Indian citizenship on Thursday, November 6, making him eligible to represent the country on the international stage.

On Sunday, November 9, Williams was called up to the Indian camp by Coach Khalid Jamil, ahead of their AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Bangladesh on November 18.

"Everybody has high expectations, which is great, which is a credit to me and what I've done so far in the ISL for them to think that highly of me. But if I can come in and help the other players play better, then, for me, that's a success," Williams tells Rediff's Norma Astrid Godinho in an exclusive interview.

A fan favourite, the Bengaluru FC midfielder's decision is hardly surprising. Check out his family tree.

Williams' roots are deeply entrenched in India -- his mother Audrey was born into an Anglo-Indian family in Bombay and his maternal grandfather, Lincoln Grostate, played for Bombay in the Santosh Trophy in the 1950s.

Williams' football connection with India doesn't end there.

His twin brother Aryn spent some time at Indian clubs and in 2018 he signed for NEROCA FC.

Earlier this year, Williams expressed to Bengaluru FC team-mate Sunil Chhetri about his desire to represent India and here's how it went for the 32 year old...

You were born and raised in Australia and have a clear family connection to India through your maternal side. What personal and emotional factors led you to renounce Australian citizenship and pursue an Indian passport?

Yes, there was the emotional factor, but it was a selfish factor as well in terms of, football is a short career and every player wants to play international football and, you know, to represent the country of my family is something that if there was a slight chance I could do it, I was going to go for it. And that's what we did.

It was a long process. And, you know, we got there in the end and life's short and I think, you know, if there's an opportunity there, then go and get it.

You've come out of the Portsmouth youth system and were a part of Fulham at one point in time. You were part of the Socceroos too. How did you weigh sporting ambition versus personal identity when making this decision?

I haven't really thought about it like that, to be honest with you. I'm kind of just looking at it as a chance to play international football, to represent India, and to hopefully inspire other players with a similar background to me, to show them that they can come to India and do the same thing.

It's possible. It isn't impossible. You just have to be willing to commit and that's what I did. And I hope, like I said, to inspire others to do the same and come out and help us as a nation, you know.

But in terms of personal identity, you know, I am now Indian but, you know, you hear my accent, I'm Aussie, I was brought up in Australia, all my friends are Australian. So, I don't think, I didn't really think anything much about my personal identity.

Indians know Australians with obviously the cricket and stuff. So, I hope they take a liking to me.

Walk us through the practical process, what were the hardest administrative or legal hurdles to overcome to complete the citizenship switch and make yourself eligible for India?

My phone will go dead by the time I go through it all. But there was security checks at every single point. There's documents from 60 years ago. And the thing is here, everything needs to be hard copy, not soft copy. So, you have to run back and forward.

I don't know how many times I went to the district commissioner's office. I don't know how many police stations I went to, how many times I got told 'no' and, you know, walking into these police stations and DC offices, everyone here locally speaking Kannada, I have to go with someone and, you know, they're kind of looking at me like I've got four heads.

So it was, yeah, it was quite strange and if somewhat a little bit scary. But if it doesn't scare you, then you're probably not moving in the right direction.

When you walked out with an Indian passport in your hand, did it feel like closing a chapter or finally opening the right one?

Yeah, well, I mean, it's a chapter that not many people have kind of gone on to, isn't it?

You know, Arata Izumi's the other one that has done it (Japan-born Izumi's father was Gujarati. Izumi took Indian citizenship back in 2012 and went on to play for India 9 times in 2013 and 2014.) But hopefully this can be a chapter that that more people can open, you know, now there's two of us that's done it.

And now in recent times, when everybody's calling for OCI, PIO players to come to India and play, I hope that I can be the one that's really pushed that and really inspired others to come over here and join me. And I think definitely it is about opening the right one.

It's like everything depends how you look on it mentally. If you think you're opening the right chapter, then usually you are opening the right chapter.

From England's EFL grind to Australia's A League and now the ISL, what's the most under-appreciated difference in football culture that you've noticed across these three countries?

Australia and England are obviously very different to each other. And so is the ISL. I think in England, the biggest thing was it's dog eat dog there, because there's so many clubs and so many teams and so many players, you know, there's no foreign quota. People can come in left, right and centre. So you have to be on the ball every day in training.

You know, even when you go home, you have to do the right things because if you don't play well, you know, three, four or five games in a row club might say in January, 'we want to send you out a loan or, you know, we've got someone else coming in' or sometimes I won't even tell you, just bring someone in and, you know, you find yourself going further down the pecking order.

So I think India and Australia vary to England the most in that sense, because, you know, there isn't as much competition for places in the ISL as there is in the UK, obviously.

On the pitch, you're known for your pace pressing and link up play. Where do you think you can shift the needle for India tactically?

That's a good question. I think just to bring something different, you know, a lot of my game is not wanting the ball to feet. It's more about my willingness to run in behind and my timing of runs in behind.

Also, my crossing ability, finishing ability. So hopefully I can get myself into these positions and let my technical ability take over and hopefully get some assists and goals. Work hard for the team.

Difficult to say right now. Once I get into camp and stuff, I think I'll probably get a bit better gauge of what the manager wants to do, what the other players are like, what system there is.

So, at the moment, I'd say hopefully my willingness to run in behind and my end product in the final third.

You've represented Australia, but at multiple age levels and even in the senior cap, how do you reconcile the pride of that past with the excitement of what lies ahead for India?
What does success look like to you in an Indian shirt? Numbers, trophies, impact?

As a kid, the one thing I wanted to do and, was always to play for the Soccerroos and I managed to do that, which was, you know, a dream come true for me.

In terms of what India looks like, what does success look like for India... I don't think it's numbers. I don't think it's trophies. I think it's definitely trying to get up in the rankings.

And it's impact. If I can impact football, not only on the pitch, but off the pitch, like I keep mentioning about hopefully other players joining me and, if I can make an impact to kids to get more kids to start playing football, which gives us a better chance to go further in competitions, because, you know, these things don't happen overnight and obviously one player doesn't make a team.

I myself can't just come in and change the whole thing. Everybody has high expectations, which is great, which is, you know, a credit to me and what I've done so far in the ISL for them to think that highly of me.

But if I can come in and help the other players play better, then, for me, that's a success. And for us to go further, in the rankings, it's going to be we just have to progress slowly, slowly.

If it is quick, if it is slow, either way, as long as we're going up and to the right, then that's exactly what we're after.

Bengaluru FC fans already see you as one of their own. Has that kind of reception softened the transition or did it make the decision to switch allegiance even heavier?

They (fans) have been amazing to me since day one, and the excitement I get from playing in front of them, every home game is awesome.

And, you know, they say I am one their own and now I actually am, which is pretty cool. And it's just a credit to them. Like they show so much love towards me, which, you know, helps me perform, helps me work harder, helps me want to want to do the best for the club.