My
last blog on ‘Why do I prefer ISL’ received good response from the readers. Some
of the readers supported my views, while others were emotional. I can
understand their sentiment as I am also an ardent follower of one of the
biggies of Bengal football. However, it is important to understand that the
derby may be the USP of Indian football, but it does not represent the entire
football environment of India. We need holistic development. Football
infrastructure should be developed and more investment is needed for the
development of football talents. Why the Indian or foreign entities should
invest for grassroots or for infrastructure? I suggest the readers to read one
my project reports on ‘Building Football’s Sleeping Giant’ which I wrote for the
Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Libero
Sports. This report will give the readers an understanding of the investment
opportunities and the possible ROI in Indian football.
I
don’t agree with all the points of the proposal. The AIFF and the IMG-R will
face a number of difficulties in making the ISL the supreme league of India. In
my last blog, I mentioned about some of these problems. One of which is to get an
approval from FIFA. Others are listed below:
- Introducing a promotion and
relegation system between the divisions
- Giving a chance to the member-based
highly successful clubs to participate directly in the league
- Increasing the number of Indian
players in the teams
- Making the league (ISL) financially
viable as the duration of the league will be increased
As
a football fan, I strongly believe that these problems can be solved. What is
needed is to introduce competition among the participating clubs, both on and
off the ground. Many of the present clubs of the I League do not have adequate
fund. If ISL, only by proper promotion and marketing, can attract investors,
why not the clubs of the I League? Because
there is lack of competition for generating money! Majority of these clubs are
following the same way. I do not agree with the fact the ISL has given us
better football. There is hardly any difference between the on-ground
performance of the franchises of ISL and the clubs of I League. The only
difference is the sharp mind to generate revenue by attracting more number of
people towards the league. The same could be done with the I League! My view is
that the clubs of the I-League should now face competition and upgrade
themselves. However, the concept of ‘financial fair play’ should be introduced
to provide a level playing field to these clubs.
We
may be satisfied with the performance of our clubs, but it is the time to look
at the ranking of the national team. We need to improve a lot, we want to see
our country in top 100. Only emotion will not help us to reach the target. Competition
does not mean that the I-League clubs will phase out. Let the competition
begin, let the fittest to survive. Let
Indian football to grow.
