"I don't believe we're ever going away. And that's sincere." - Interview with Richard Whelan, CEO EFLI

So you believe this model will work and help sustain grassroots development ?

I think TV coverage is critical for the university games. It worked in America and I’m confident it can work here. You put people’s names on TV so that the younger children can watch, then they want to try and emulate that.

Richard Whelan (second from left) at the launch of the EFLI in Sri Lanka

The second thing is, even though I spent very little time in America – it is easy to see, for instance that a team like the Green Bay Packers were like a religion, irrespective of whether they won or lost. All that people care about is watching them play. In India though, as you’ve pointed out yourself, we see a bigger event loyalty rather than a team loyalty. For instance, I could be in Hyderabad, but I could support a player from Mumbai and a team from Delhi. Do you see that as something about the nature of sporting affiliations in the country that will change over time? What’s your take on that?

I really feel that the customer preference and taste that predominate are very similar to America, whether its food, technology, automobiles, gadgets. There is a huge following of the American culture with a unique Indian angle to it. A lot of American imports such as the iPhone and WWE have been a success here and I don’t see any reason why American football can’t do extremely well. And I believe that the way in which the audiences appreciate it would be similar to that in America.

So you would have favourite players who may or may not be from your city, likewise for your favourite teams, based on a lot of things such as their style of play, things they say in the public and in interviews. Then people begin to adopt heroes, not necessarily from their own team. There might be a player who people just really love watching, like Michael Jordan. Who doesn’t like Michael Jordan?

So you believe that banking on the local communities is not necessarily a key part of a sport like American football to survive?

No, not at all. In India, we’re all about getting as many people to watch it as possible. Its not about just penetrating the local market. However, at the same time, the local connections are also important – you need the local press, you need the interest to be created locally. When you talked about the Packers, there are deep roots to the team, especially since they’re not on top and not competing at the highest level. So, you need your roots to go wide and go deep. We’re trying to do just that here, what’s taking time is to go reach out to the schools and universities and create the logos, reach out to the local press and radio stations.

We take time to go deep because we feel that is our anchor. So that’s very important to us. At the same time, we’re going pan-India and I hope we’re doing it right and hopefully this helps us grow exponentially.

Coming to the teams, obviously these teams are raw at the moment. How much time do you think it’s going to take for the coaches to skill these teams into becoming stronger units?

Physically, I would have to say that they are currently at a low American college football level. Not bad, but probably at the level of the smaller schools. Technically, they are equivalent to say high school back in the States. But high school football is very good in America, they put high school games on national TV. So, that’s not to be condescending, and it’s getting better. And there’s also fluctuations in these levels that happen.

Kickoffs and returns, the level is not acceptable, but other areas such as the passing game, the defense, the rushing are all quite spectacular. Not NFL quality, but real good. So we’re really proud of these boys, they’re getting better on their own even without any American coaches being here. We have, of course, lined up a few American coaches to come here sometime this year and we’re also planning to take the boys to America for training camps. So those efforts will continue, but the most important thing for everybody, including the coaches is that the players here in India, in the American eye, have gotten better without any coaches being here, just by studying, watching and observing each and every play.

That was so encouraging for me because I really thought that when the American coaches left, that there might be a drop in the levels, but it’s gotten technically better. That’s shocking! Probably it’s also testament to the coaches we picked. And I’m really happy to tell you that we haven’t lost a single coach to date. They live and breathe football and they’ve translated that to their players. That’s how it happened in America too, the competition drove the game’s success.

Has the league right now already got the critical mass to sustain itself?

Let’s actually talk about that. The head coaches are all locked in, they’re not going anywhere. With our ability to be on national TV, we are attracting great athletes. Some of these athletes are paid more than others, some other volunteer. That’ where it is now, it has kind of evolved itself to a point where each player knows that if they can improve their performances they can become stars and there’s a lot of opportunity for them to grow. And we’re really driving through a philosophy to make sure that no player gets left behind, that the money is properly utilized and that everyone gets the exposure.

Finally, coming to the teams, there are six Indian teams and one each from Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Where do you see that going three years down the line?

We’ll be in 32 cities, 32 cities playing pro-ball. We’ve actually expanded and announced the Chennai team and Punjab. Jaipur’s just been picked up by a very prominent family in Chicago. We have picked up Jaipur National University and a second and third team from the city are also going to be signed. So there’s going to be a lot of competition in Jaipur. It will help retailers to start distributing merchandise and footballs. So that market will grow.

Chandigarh and Haryana will be the other pro-teams and Ahmedabad and Surat will also have teams.

And fantastic reception here in Hyderabad for this game, would you want to come back here when the main league kicks off later this year?

It’s a great stadium and great audience, and I would love to come back here. It’s been a fun interview too, you put forward some really good questions. I just hope that everyone enjoys the product that we have here, turn up and support the teams and enjoy the games.