Is IPL style league the need of the hour?

I League vs IPL style league

India developing as one of the hottest prospects for football in the world, the number of business oriented plans coming forward is increasing.  The AIFF and its marketing partner IMG-Reliance have proposed to hold a city-based franchise league on the lines of popular Indian Premier League (IPL) in cricket. The tournament is expected to feature as-yet-unnamed international and local stars. But the I-league clubs have declined to release their players for the tournament.

The role of AIFF and IMG Reliance is to develop the sport in the country, rather than trying to drive money out of it. The idea of having a fancy league with European stars will overshadow the work done by the I-League clubs for over 10 years for gaining popularity. The new league will eventually supersede the I-League and cause the slow death of existing clubs. The I-League was here well before IMG-Reliance and unfortunately, all this is about money and I think it would have an adverse effect on the I-League.

A similar thing happened in Indonesia with two domestic leagues in place, the Indonesian Premier League and the Indonesia Super League, and it threatened the sport in that country. Finally the FIFA interfered and didn’t sanction the idea of having two leagues. India cannot bear and handle any such setbacks in near future.  

The new league is expected to bring in names like David Beckham, Robert Pires and Fabio Cannavaro. These introductions will surely grab attention but it will just be momentarily. The players coming in will either be retired or semi retired. So it won’t help if you bring in retired or semi-retired players to grab a few eyeballs for a minute.

IMG Reliance must rather spend money and bring in investors in developing the current club. They must increase the salary of the players, increase the infrastructure etc. These things will help in making the league more competitive and increasing the quality of players. But unfortunately IMG- Reliance, a business firm, may not get an instant return on investment by this move.  So such a move by the organization is highly unlikely.

Football is a completely different sport when compared to cricket.  A league for 2 months may be apt for cricket but when it comes to football it must be for around 8 to 9 months. The players will end up having fatigue issues after playing around 20 matches in span of 2 months.  So ultimately the players will start under-performing in I-League after the new tournament.

IPL itself is receiving criticisms from the pundits for spoiling the charm of established game like Cricket in the country. So I wonder how such a league will help in improving the condition of a not yet developed sport in the country.  

What if Wayne Rooney was ever an Indian Footballer?

Wayne Rooney 

Wayne Rooney, charismatic England international, is one of the finest players the world has ever seen. The player has an incredible fan following throughout the globe and has achieved almost everything which other protagonist in his field failed to do. I have specially assumed Wayne Rooney to be part of this scenario because he is always bound with controversies and that qualifies him to be an Indian sportsman.

I would like to bring in some of the events which could have possibly happened, if he was ever part of Indian National Team.

The star in the blue jersey has all started waving his magic for the national team.  He has now turned out to be more popular than Sachin Tendulkar (but still far behind Rajnikanth). The people are now slowly turning their attention towards football from cricket. Rooney has now become more important for media compared to Dhoni.

Some of the series of things which would have happened are as follows:

Wayne Rooney linked up with Poonam Pandey:

If any sportsman is popular in India then they have to be ultimately linked up with a Bollywood star. So Poonam Pandey, a model very close to sporting fraternity for all wrong reasons, is perfect for this. The stories about them being in relationship are fueling in tabloids and have become one of the major events in the country.

 Wayne Rooney in a reality show:

How can reality show producers waste this opportunity? We have already seen Baichung Bhutia in ‘Jhalak Dikhlaja’, so Rooney cannot miss this opportunity. The whole country is now watching Rooney dancing on some Bollywood numbers. This has resulted in skipping his practice sessions, leading it to a battle with team management.

Rooney in a rally with Congress:

If popular and with controversies, one is qualified to become a politician in India. Rooney having these special qualities has now automatically become part of a political rally. In his speech he would have claimed that, “in his childhood he never had a ground to play, but when congress came to power he got football grounds and that is why he has reached this heights today.” He would have appealed the masses to vote for congress.

In the end Rooney hang his boots.

This must have seemed to be funny but this is what happens in India. The reason behind this blog was not to show the negativity in the country. This was a prior warning to all Indian Footballers who are all ready to be part of fame and fortune in near future.

The love for football is increasing, recently in Facebook I saw 1123 comments on news related to Indian football and 2225 people liking it. It is clearly evident that football is getting popular in India. This seems to be a good indication but as it said, “More the power more the responsibility.”

I would like to apologize if this blog has hurt sentiments of any person!

A lighter look towards Indian football

Indian Football

While starting with the first post on my blog, bombardment of highly technical stuff about Indian football won’t help. So in this blog let me just fantasize about what developments we want to see in coming years. I know the word fantasize is a word used for too much of imagination, but the condition of the sport in the country do need a bit of fantasizing at this moment. Because someone has rightly said, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”

So in this blog I will talk about the 5 basic changes which I want to see in the sport happening:

   1.       Organized I–League: Every country has its own league; the league in India has never seemed to be organized. So the first thing which must be changed is the way I-League is conducted. The league should become more professional and should make efforts to bring in both audience and investors. A proper league will bring in more competition and a much better fan following for the clubs. We must follow development models adopted by countries like China and Japan, where the sport is developing rapidly.

   2.       A competitive and better AIFF:  The chairman of AIFF, Praful Patel, has been same from past 3 years.  The condition of sport has not developed according to its potential but still there is no change in the leadership. So there must be a strong opposition party which will keep the administration on their toes.

  3.       Television rights and Branding: Branding of the sport is done in a very stereotyped manner. There are no efforts made by the organization to bring in more investors. The television rights of I league is given to Ten Action, but the quality in which the game is displayed make is look very tacky and boring. If we have to develop the game, we have to make it more popular. So branding and television rights should be targeted keenly and precisely.

  4.       Proper facilities and grass root developments: If we want the quality to be improved then the government should bring in proper training facilities and improved coaching staff for the players. In India there are very few grounds which meet FIFA standards. So it is highly unlikely to see good international matches played in the country. Grass root developments are very important because we cannot expect immediate changes in the sport at this moment. We have to look for a long term plan and grass root development can make things possible in coming years.

  5.       Club loyalty: I wish I could see people wearing jerseys of Sunil Chhetri rather than Cristiano Ronaldo. There is no love for the club both among the players and people. A player playing for Dempo FC does join Churchil Brothers, a rival club. I can never imagine Steven Gerrard playing for Manchester United and Ryan Giggs playing for Manchester City.  So one must stick to a single club and must work hard for the upbringing of the club. So lack of loyalty for clubs hampers the development of the sport and its credibility among the audience.

So these were the basic changes which I wish to see.  Realistically I cannot expect India to play world cup in coming 5 years, but till that time we can at least create a set of audience/fans that are eagerly waiting for the moment to arrive.