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The owners and co-owners of the eight city Indian Super League franchises expressed their views after the official launch of the tournament on Thursday.
Atletico de Kolkata
EMCCE: Mr. Utsav Parekh, we would like to know how do you plan to build on the rich football heritage in Kolkata?
First, let me thank Mrs. Nita Ambani for giving football to Kolkata. Football is not the passion, it is not the heritage but it is the way of life. Therefore, as Kolkatans, football is something we want and something that we are living for. We have a long and ambitious program for grassroot development. We have the heritage and the youngsters to play and, the key objective of this program would be to give these youngsters the support and technique by training them. We have already employed a football coach for a 3 year period with his primary objective being to get involved in grassroot level training.
The next question which is very important; is about Dada (Sourav Ganguly) - we have made it very clear to Dada that this is it! No more cricket and only football. He has pledged that after his last assignment which is currently underway in London, he will be here and be only for football. He has already given his pledge and we look forward to that. And as we know, Dada also has an iconic fan following in Kolkata as well as in the rest of the country and we will win on that.
Team Chennai
EMCCE: Mr. Abhishek Bachchan, your zeal and knowledge for football is well known. How would you contribute that bit to the Chennai FC?
Abhishek: Well, about the knowledge part I think we should leave that to the Technical Director of our team. We have set up a very able management team in Chennai and they will deal with the knowledge part. With regards to zeal, as most of the people standing on this dais will tell you, it is all driven by passion. Passion is very important when you are setting up something new and especially when it is of the magnitude of the Hero Indian Super League. If there is a business model in place but no passion to drive it and to keep it at the forefront, it will be difficult to penetrate it deeper into the audience and fans.
I think that as far as most of the people here are concerned, they are really keen to get in there, get down, get dirty, work hard and drive the Hero Indian Super League to the level that we believe it can attain. I think that is pretty much the game plan.
Delhi Dynamos FC
EMCCE: Mr. Sameer Manchanda, how do you plan to convert India’s national capital into a footballing capital and what are your plans for grassroot?
Mr. Manchanda: I think the way we look at it is by observing the different successful clubs across the world. Upon observation, an important thing is highlighted which is also the second part of the question regarding grassroot. That is where you connect with the grassroot. About 50% of Delhi’s population is under the age group of 30. We have initiated the Junior Dynamos through which we have identified about a 100 schools and the Delhi competition is already on from August 3rd. Hopefully we can locate 30 school kids – there are 3 competition happening – the u12, u14 and u17.
We are hoping that through this initiative, we can have 30 kids who can play in the u17 world cup and also be a part of the training camps organized by the Reliance Foundation. I think that is what we are really looking at. It is the youth connect, along with getting schools to participate and utilizing social media and digital media that will play a big role. The real part for us is to actually get the youth to come and play football. For us, in Delhi streets, we would like to coin the word Gully Football just like Gully Cricket. You can actually put two stumps and use them as goal posts to play football. We have made some humble steps for this game and that is what we would like to continue to do in future.
FC Pune City
EMCCE: Mr. Kapil Wadhawan, how do you plan to enable the youth of Pune to play football and what is that extra kick that you can bring about?
Mr. Wadhawan: We, as a group have been associated with sports for a very long time. Unfortunately, when it came to sport, the only sport that came to mind was cricket. But I am very thankful to the Reliance family for having promoted this Indian Super League event and having all of us here as partners.
As far as Pune is concerned, to me it is the real twin city of Mumbai. Passion, youth, exuberance and the demographic profile of Pune is very different from any other city and town in the country. It is really unfortunate that in the players’ draft, we didn’t have a single player coming from Pune. So, we would focus on grassroot development, putting up academies and finally in the next 3-4 years coming up with a few strong players representing in the ISL from Pune. As far as the Salman’s ‘Kick’ is concerned, the kick will come only when we win the league (laughs).
FC Goa
EMCCE: Varun Dhavan, how do you plan to deepen the connection with your region and the people of you region (Goa)?
Varun Dhavan: I would first like to thank Mrs. Nita Ambani for giving all of us the opportunity to be here and to spread the love for football. The question was about Goa right? It is fairly simple, there is no person over here who will have anything negative to say about Goa. Who does not like Goa? But you are right, Goa has the deepest connection to football in the country. We have two very big footballing giants in Goa - Dempo and Salgaocar who have been playing football for about 100 years. Between them, in the last 9 years, they have won 7 major titles and so you can expect some really exciting football to come your way.
As a part of connecting with the youth, we have Videocon on board. Videocon has great connect with technology and the digital media. It will be setting up a lot of fan centers in Goa. There will be shacks on the beach from FC Goa bars and from FC Goa fan club all around Goa all hopefully across the country because, deep within, I believe that we all are Goans and we all enjoy Goa. Goa will play a brand of football that is going to be exciting, attacking, it is going to live up to the fun and zanzy type of lifestyle that you see in Goa and yet, it is going to be very aggressive and competitive. So watch out for Goa this year people.
Kerala Blasters FC
EMCCE: Sachin, tell us about the transition that you will make from the international world of cricket to the developing game of football in our country?
Sachin: Be it cricket or football, I will support sport in India and all the sporting personalities as well in India. I have a vision for India and in my words I call it ‘Sports for All’. It is about encouraging the youth of India and starting from the grassroot level to involve themselves in sporting activities. It is not about making all of them professional sportsmen or sportswomen. It is all about making all of them healthy and fit. The happy moment for me would be when India as a nation would be recognized as the healthiest and fittest nation in the world. I personally feel that in such a big nation, talent is there but possibly, there is no right platform or not enough opportunities to express their talent.
This is where I would like to thank Nita Bhabhi and Praful Bhai for making this happen for Indian Football. It is extremely important for everyone to make the most of this platform. From my sporting experience of the last 25 years that I have completed, something which I have been able to learn by engaging myself in sporting activities couldn’t be learnt in the board room or the classroom. Sports teach you lot of things in life. It taught me to compete but compete in the right spirit. Along the way, there would be obstacles, you may win or may lose. But it teaches you to get up back on your feet again and compete. That is what I would ask all the teams here to do – to compete in the right spirit; we will compete hard though we continue to be friends off the field.
Team Mumbai
EMCCE: Ranbir, you are a football fanatic. Please share with us how you will make Mumbaikars embrace the game?
Ranbir Kapoor: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I am super excited and super thrilled today. As a fan, I have always been yearning for international quality football in my own country and with the Hero Indian Super League, I think that we are going to get that right now. We have all seen the amazing work that Star Sports has done with sports in our country. The recent example being, Kabaddi. I think that they will leave no stone unturned with regards to the Hero Indian Super League as well.
IMG Reliance has been the pioneers in building leagues in our country and we couldn’t have asked for anything better than that. We just want to build a team for Mumbai – a team which every 20 million Mumbaikar can call their own. A team which showcases quality, engaging and entertaining football. I truly believe that this is the beginning of a football revolution. We do require the support of fans and the media. We require the fans to enter the stadiums to cheer their favorite team because I do believe that football is something that will truly grow in our country.
I am truly overwhelmed at this point and I don’t have much to say. Thank you Mr. Patel and Mr. Pawan Munjal. And to all the other franchises owners, I wish you all the luck and see you at the games.
NorthEast United FC
EMCCE: John, how do you plan to combine the passion for football with the talent that the North-East has to offer?
John: Well, I have played football ‘A’ division but I wish I could have played on. I had to make a choice between education and sport and I chose education because there was no money in sport at that time – especially in football. I am realising my dream through the North-East United FC that we have bought. Of course I have an able partner in Mr. Ming along with whom I co-own Shillong Lajong that is an I-League club. I have been a part of the football scenario for sometime now and I think that the ISL is an incubation period to give a catalytic growth to the game in our nation. Thank you Mrs. Ambani for enforcing this vision on a country that FIFA president, Sepp Blatter says is a sleeping giant – India. I think that congratulations to you for actually making this movement with Star Sports and IMG.
North-East is the hotbed for football. It is a region that has often been disconnected from the rest of India and we, with NorthEast United FC, plan to bring North-East to the rest of India. We will have some great time and great games and if I could just end it by saying that I have spoken to all the franchise owners here and each one of them shares a firm passion which is the love for football. They are all very passionate and purest in their approach and we think that it is most important to build a league and make this league valuable and so each team becomes valuable.
