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India is a diverse country with a population of 1.27 billion. People follow different religions, speak different languages, and support different Indian Premier League cricket teams. But when it comes to making cheap jokes about the Indian football team’s inability to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, we stand united. These jokes and see no end and intensifies around June once in every four years, when the competition is about to kick-off. We hop right on to the bandwagon and blame the governing bodies for its ‘lack of professionalism’.
I-League: India’s first professional football league
While recently crowned FIFA world cup champions, Germany has a professional 3-tier football league system with a large fan base, most Indians are not even aware of our own professional football league – the I-League. As they say, ignorance is bliss.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) I-league was introduced in 2007, at a time when Bob Houghton (under whom the national team had a winning percentage of 44%) was in charge of the Indian nation team and seemed to be heading in the right direction; winning the SAFF cup, Nehru cup and also qualifying for the 2011 Asia Cup.
It was introduced with an initial aim to bring in professionalism; each club had to have a youth system, a proper stadium, a separate training stadium etc. Even today, most requirements are not met by all participating clubs. So much for professionalism!
So what now? Having tried the professional way of building a football system, like how it is done everywhere else in the world, our cricket crazy nation has decided to do it the way we know best. The Indian Premier League way.
We all know how we Indians like a bit of spice in everything; whether it’s Bollywood or cricket, we need our dose of masala. From the occasional slaps and on-field bust ups that make national headlines to match fixing allegations, the IPL has shown us all. Cheerleaders flown in from the United States and celebrities in the stands attract crowd to the stadiums and keep us glued to the television.
The ISL competition format
The inaugural Indian Super League is set to begin on 12 October 2014 and will feature eight teams from around the country. The system is franchised based, adopted from the IPL cricket tournament, where the players have contract with the ISL and they are acquired by the franchises after conducting auctions. The competition worth rupees 700 Crore (around $116 million ) will be played for two months, in selected stadiums on a home-away basis.
The competition will be sponsored by giants IMG-Reliance and Hero motor corp. The eight franchises are divided based on different states and each team will have 14 domestic players, 7 foreign players and will feature one foreign marquee player.
The owners of the franchises will include a few familiar faces to Indian cricket fans such as Sachin Tendulkar (Kerala Blasters FC) and Sourav Ganguly (Atletico de Kolkata). Bollywood actors John Abraham (North East United), Ranbir Kapoor (Mumbai City FC), Abhishek Bachchan (Chennai Titans) and Salman Khan (FC Pune City) will also own franchises. The other franchises 'Goa FC' and 'Delhi Dynamos' will be owned by top corporate heavyweights from India.
The Kolkata and Pune franchises have established partnerships with Spanish team and Champions league runners-up Atlético Madrid and Italian side ACF Fiorentina respectively.
Where the ISL can go wrong
The I-League has seen participating clubs play week in and week out, whereas the fixtures of the ISL will only be good for two months; Hence, the I-League has the more traditional format.
Of course, the question that springs into all our minds is how the ISL can add to the country’s overall progress, without having good infrastructure and not working with younger age groups. This is where much thought has to be directed by the ISL. Since the ISL is a yearly event, it remains to be seen whether it can fill these small voids that the I-League already posses.
What needs to be done is to give a more attention into developing and nurturing young talent and giving the inexperienced Indian footballers a first-hand experience and insight into the game. This is not asking much from tournament that involves such a huge amount of investment and talented personnel with rich experience.
What to expect from the ISL?
ISL will surely bringing in the inevitable entertainment factor which will be key to increase crowds on matchdays and increase TV viewership. Now, don’t be surprised if you see Luis Garcia, former Liverpool and Atletico Madrid player and the marquee player of the Kolkata franchise, dance to the beat of a Bollywood tune. The flamboyant owners and the array of foreign footballers in action, promise full house attendance, much like the IPL.
At this point of time, it is difficult to say whether the Indian Super League, will help the Indian football team, ranked 150th in the world (as on August 14th) and its distant dream of participating in a FIFA World Cup. But one thing is certain; this is the only possible way of increasing popularity of the sport in the country.
Having managed to rope in 49 foreign players which include former top flight footballers such as David James, Luis Garcia and Michael Chopra, the ISL will not be short of quality football. It also promises to showcase young talent from both India and around the globe. The young Indian players can definitely learn a thing or two, both on and off the pitch, from seasoned professionals who have played in fine leagues in the past.
So is Indian football heading the right way forward with the introduction of the ISL? I would certainly like to think so. The success of the Indian Super League will hopefully bring in more investment into the sport enabling us to work on grass root and rudimentary things like infrastructure and youth development.
I would like to see this as a new era in Indian football that will help us produce talent from within the country. Though it may take jolly good time let’s hope that we eventually make it to the bigger stages of world football and see that our national anthem is played at the FIFA World Cup.
