I don't know what happened to Indian football. We used to be so good in the 50's and 60's, we won the Asian championships, and were always high up in the FIFA rankings. I guess like the rest of the country, football also started to rot, and its really unfortunate that even today, we are still trying to find out football legs.
Sure we have the NFL, or the National Football League, which is more than a decade old too, but the media interest it generates is miniscule, what to talk of merchandise income, which is negligible, if there is any at all. For long the only sponsors that the NFL could find are large public sector undertakings which for all i know, were only there because the government forced them to.
Some games do generate a lot of interests, but even then, one can confidently say that the NFL only creates a stir in a few select states of the country. The usual suspects are West Bengal, with its traditional Mohun Bagan - East Bengal rivalry, Goa, and probably the Punjab, Kerala, the north-east and a few other pockets. Some people say its because of the traditional club structure of the league, with clubs more or less presenting themselves rather than their cities. Most of the clubs are concentrated in Goa and WB, with a smattering of clubs in Mumbai, Punjab, and other parts of South India.
In hockey, they started the Premier Hockey League, which is formatted to make it media friendly. It is tiered, and is based on cities. The Tier I has teams such as Bangalore Lions, Sher-e-Punjabs etc, and tier II has cities such as Imphal Rangers and Lucknow Nawabs. While this culture is still to catch on, I am hoping it will spread eventually, with the league taking a life of its own and be able to sustain itself in the long run. The IHF, that dear old enemy of Indian hockey IHF, has signed pacts with various sports channels in the country to telecast matches, and there is a plan to push its merchandise as well. Its games are on a home and away basis, but its only in the name. All the games are only played in one venue, which changes every year. Hopefully they plan to take it to the next level and choose more venues, and encourage the teams to start developing their own stadiums and revenues sources. As for the media, well, hopefully the media push and more tv coverage will mean more interest and more people in the stands.
I want the same for Indian football. I am sure cities would love to host their own teams. Delhi has a big football base, and so has my small city of Dehradun. All the cities in the country can benefit from such a format.
Only yesterday I was telling my friend that I think Indians are too wound up. For some reason we are very reluctant to have fun and just chill out. All this stress on hard work and making ends meet really leaves no time for anything else, and other than national cricket, India seems to have no other everlasting sporting culture. Despite the highest standards, our domestic cricket still suffers from lack of media space and lack of viewers.
Anyways, the All India Football Federation had appointed a new coach for the Indian football team a couple of weeks ago, and he said that India might actually qualify for the World Cup in the next 8 years! Maybe thats being too optimistic, but if he can manage to change the way the AIFF thinks and bring about some European style class and format to our game, fuck yeah people will watch it.
India in FIFA WC? Possible by 2014
Kolkata: Dreams of many Indians to see their country playing in the FIFA World Cup may turn out to be true and it could be as early as 2014 edition of the World Cup.
The newly appointed national coach of the Indian soccer team Bob Hougton on Sunday expressed hope that Team India may qualify for World Cup in the next eight years.
Pinning on some "remarkable developments" that is going to take place in the Indian football scene, Hougton said: "It seems to me that if India does not qualify for the world Cup in 2010, but some where around the year 2014 or 2018 the team can go up because of some remarkable development which is going to happen here".
Addressing a press conference before India's qualifying match for the AFC Asian Cup 2007 against Saudi Arabia, Houghton said with better facility and more money provided for the development of the game, young players could be urged to get involved with the game.
In his 30-year coaching career, the Englishman has trained players in Europe, Africa and Asia.
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The article is really vague and short though. What remarkable developments is he talking about? Its been said a lot of times before, lets hope it stands true this time. Inshallah.
ooh, money money. Kiss my ass.
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