Union Minister Babul Supriyo’s appointment as the Vice President of the organising committee of the FIFA U17 World Cup has been met with some stern questions on social media. Supriyo, a fervent football fan is known for his skills with his voice, having been a playback singer in Bollywood for a number of years. His experience in the field of football and sports, however, is nothing to rave about.
India is set to host it’s first ever major FIFA event when the FIFA U17 comes to its shores in the month of October. The tournament is set to be played between October 6 and 28 across six venues which should be finalised when a FIFA panel visits the country later this month.
Supriyo was congratulated on social media by Mr Praful Patel, the President of the All India Football Federation who felt the appointment would add “considerable value” to the committee.
Mr Supriyo, also took to Twitter to thank the Football chief for and claimed to be “super excited” by the opportunity.
And soon the question came flying in thick and fast regarding the motives behind the appointment and Supriyo’s credentials to be at such a high post of one of India’s sports events.
The minister in fact also took to Twitter to question one of the many doubters and said it was in fact due to blessings of Lord Ganesh that he got the job. Now that’s really not what we would look for in a reply from a Union minister. Would we?
Indian sports’ connection with Bollywood has always been a deep one. The ever growing sports industry has had to look to the glitter and glamour of Tinsel town to pump in the money of the lucrative leagues that are being formed across the country.
Whether it be IPL, ISL or the Pro Kabaddi League, people from Bollywood have been omnipresent as the industries continue to form a symbiotic relationship.
A similar uproar was heard last year when Salman Khan was made one of the Ambassadors of the Indian Olympic contingent.
With the sports ministry pumping in the majority of the money for the organisation of the event, a number of appointments are expected to be made by the central government. However, we hope in the days to come, they are made on the basis of merit, rather than just “passion” for the sport.
