The role of leagues and clubs in promoting motorsport in India

Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok

The idea of having leagues and clubs in sports is not new to India, but until recently this concept had not received wide acclaim in the country. However, it has been highly popular in several other countries. In USA, there is wide prevalence of baseball and basketball leagues, in Europe, football leagues have received great support not only in their own nation but worldwide. Coming back to India, the method of having leagues was first popularized by Cricket, the most popular sport in the country.

In 2007, the Indian Premier League was formed, which gave a renewed support to the sport in our country. The IPL, which utilized the success of twenty-twenty or the shorter format of the game with a mix of Indian and Foreign Players and a touch of glamour became a success and got much support and further popularized the sport already popular in the country.

Cricket is easily is the most dominant sport in the country and is also revered by many as a religion. The major ignition point of its popularity was the victory at the 1983 Cricket World Cup. After this, the sport only grew in its popularity and it was further enhanced after the introduction of IPL in 2007. For Cricket, IPL is playing a supporting role in increasing its popularity in the country. Because, the national team had already got so many laurels, the introduction of IPL just acted as a catalyst to further increase the popularity of the sport in the country. It was due to its popularity, that we have seen several greats that have been produced by the country over the years.

In Cricket, people got the opportunity to showcase their talent and skill and become successful. But there are several other sports, in which talent is available in plenty, but due to certain reasons, it is not realized fully. One such sport is Formula 1 or broadly motorsports. For decades, Formula 1 has only remained a spectator sport because it was too expensive to get into. India’s participation in this sport, even though has increased recently, but is still nominal.

The Indian drivers, Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok, who finally made it into Formula 1, could only race in less competitive teams and were not able to fully showcase their talent. One major reason as to why talent is not emerging in this sport in the country is due to the fact that it is not much popular and also the lack of exposure towards it. As mentioned above, Cricket got the boost in its popularity majorly due to the 1983 World Cup. While in Formula 1, at least for the next few years, there doesn’t seem to be the emergence of a successful grand prix driver, who can challenge for a world championship.

Even though Force India, the Indian Formula 1 team has shown much potential, but it needs to make the leap from a midfield team to a front runner team and also if possible, then give drive to an Indian driver. Recently its young driver programme has found a new talent in the form of Jehan Daruwala, who recently won the British Karting Championship and is surely a driver to look forward to in the future. Even Vijay Mallaya, the team principal of Force India has said that he is open to give drive to an Indian driver, provided he is capable enough.

For Cricket, IPL just played a supporting role, but for Formula 1, a similar concept can play a major role in popularizing the sport in the country. Such a dream was almost fulfilled when the “i1 Super Series” was announced back in 2011. It was thought by many to be a huge step towards making motorsport popular. The races were to be held around Asia at popular race tracks in India, Bahrain, Dubai, Qatar and Malaysia. But what caught everyone’s eyes was the driver lineup that was going to compete in it. The list included famous drivers like Jacques Villeneuve, Giancarlo Fisichella, Jean Alesi, Mika Salo, Vitantonio Liuzzi and other professional Indian drivers.

There were to be a total of 9 teams, each represented by a particular city. Every team needed to field two drivers comprising one Indian and a foreign driver. This could have opened new gates for Indian motorsports, as finally it was the chance for Indian drivers to showcase their mettle against the more experienced and famous drivers and on a big platform. Not only was it beneficial for the drivers, but motorsport as a whole had a golden opportunity to finally establish its foothold in the country.

Even if we take into account the Indian Grand Prix, which was recently held for the third time, attracted much lesser attention than the previous grand prix. It seems that gradually the interest in motorsport is dwindling in the country. The country, which had accepted this sport with open arms just a few years back, has now slowly turned its attention away from it. One major reason for this is the absence of a competitive Indian driver. Now, if the i1 Super Series had actually happened, then it would have indeed attracted a much larger crowd. Watching Indian drivers compete neck to neck with reputed international drivers would surely have generated more interest in motorsports. Also, possibly it would have motivated people to think of it as a career.

The concept of having leagues has been beneficial for several sports in the country like Cricket, Football, Badminton and Hockey. Following a similar path, had i1 Super Series actually taken off, then it would surely have garnered much interest and attention of the masses towards the motorsport in the country.