Veturi Srivatsa/ IANS: Lalit Modi, the man who conceived IPL, modelled it after football leagues in Europe, the NFL and the NBA. Now, the brand new Indian Super League (ISL) is taking a leaf from the highly-successful Twenty20 cricket tournament.
The one big difference the ISL has with IPL is the higher proportion of celebrity owners. The action heroes of Bollywood have realised that it’s a win-win situation for both sport as well as them. Big names of Indian cricket have added a dash of their own glamour to it.
As in the IPL, the new football league with eight city franchises has tried to give a global look with coaches from overseas, though, the star players roped in may not be on the field for the full 90 minutes of the game owing to their advanced age.
Is ISL the best way the AIFF thought of waking up “sleeping giants” India – so famously coined by FIFA chief Sepp Blatter as he tried to flatter India on his first visit to the country seven years ago.
When Blatter returned to India he knew the “sleeping giants” would confront him. He was ready with his wit: “You need more than one alarm clock to wake up the giant and it has started to wake up!”
To believe that Indian economy has suddenly opened up and Indian football will be flush with FDI is as ridiculous as Blatter’s optimism. After the IPL, hockey and badminton have successfully organised professional leagues and now kabaddi has shown there is marketing space for more than one pro league.
If all the promises made by the business conglomerates fructify, Indian sport will be the place to invest. Punjab Investors Summit, Mukesh Ambani came up with the amazing offer to develop hockey, football and basketball, creating world class infrastructure for these disciplines in the state.
How will the ISL help Indian football?
Little-known footballers will get to rub shoulders with experienced international players and someone like India goalkeeper Subrata Pal can get noticed under the bar for him to play in bigger and better leagues overseas.
At the end of it all, the Indian players will take home around Rs. 40 lakh for their work in two months. If Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli and a host Bollywood heroes cannot sell football to the countrymen who else can? Expectations are high from the new league.
Little-known Indian footballers will get to rub shoulders with international players and someone like goalkeeper Subrata Pal can get noticed under the bar for him to play in bigger and better leagues overseas.
