Growing audience in India

The home to the Indian Premier Cricket League has been gripped again by a new tigerish sporting event with this week’s inaugural match of the Hero Indian Super League.
 
While cricket and field hockey are by far and away the most popular sports in a country of more than a billion inhabitants, football (or soccer) has experienced a growing audience for a generation.

The English Premier League has caught the imagination for years with millions regularly tuning in to watch Manchester United and Liverpool on TV. These allegiances have been passed to a new generation who are now able to play the sport at school.

Football has been played in India although the I-league has failed to garner much interest with even the media regularly failing to appear to cover matches, which has led to a vicious circle and stagnation.

All that is about to change and the synergies with the IPL cannot be ignored. Even the star players are involved with Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar both part of consortia in opposing teams (Ganguly with Kolkata and Tendulkar with the Kerala Blasters).

The super league is committed to investing in stadium infrastructure in each of the franchise cities while also developing strong grassroots programmes.
 
The capacity of some of the stadia rival any around the world with the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata hosting 120,000 passionate local supporters, indicating why it was the most expensive of the franchises purchased at approximately 18 crores (the base price for each being 12 crores).

Kolkata has also benefitted from investment by Spanish champions, Atletico Madrid, hence them playing under the name Atletico de Kolkata and they have spent one month pre-season preparing in Spain, returning undefeated against local sides and having been presented to the crowd during a recent home match for the Madrid-based team.

Atletico were the first of what may be a rush of Western teams that try to tap into what many believe will be the next great frontier for football.  Interest in the league is intense with many lunchtime office conversations now centred around soccer, taking the emphasis away from cricket!

Bollywood will not miss out either as Ranbir Kapoor and Bimal Parekh submitting the highest bid for Mumbai City while Salman Khan acquired the franchise for Pune City.

Chennai initially missed out although, having won the franchise rights in April, Bangalore disbanded in August allowing the replacement to be made.

The player drafting system witnessed in the IPL was replicated in the ISL with two draws, one each for Indian players and another for those recruited from overseas with the system used drawing comparisons of the college draft in the US.

The domestic draft was conducted in July with 84 players available although only six of the franchises were present (Goa and North East were selecting from the I-league). Lenny Rodrigues was the first selected by Pune while Subrata Pal, Syed Nabi and Gouramangi Singh were the most expensive.

Of the international players selected in August, former Inter Milan defender, Bruno Cirillo was the first chosen although teams were still signing players at the end of September. While none of the current stars have been recruited and the league is unable to match the financial lure of the Middle East or China, there are still some high-profile retired or semi-retired players drawing a huge pay cheque for 10 weeks of work.

These include Robert Pires, David Trezeguet and Alessandro del Piero.  Nicolas Anelka is another recent recruit who will eventually (bans and injury permitting) line up alongside former Arsenal colleague, Freddie Ljungberg, for the first time since 1999 while former internationals from Greece and the Eastern bloc have been added to rosters. Former Spanish international and Champions League winner, Luis Garcia, will also be present for Atletico.

There are also some high-profile former players involved in the management, with Zico and Peter Reid the most famous. Those more recently retired have also been persuaded to turn their hand to coaching too such as former England goalie David.
 
The ISL is also drawing comparisons with soccer in the US when the North American Soccer League made its first attempt to enter the American mainstream. In 1975 the New York Cosmos signed Pele and Franz Beckenbauer while the NASL signed a seven-match television deal with national networks.

In a warning shot to the ISL, the NASL disbanded in 1985 when only two teams wanted to participate, the league having expanded too quickly after an initial surge in interest.

Yet with such a huge population to satisfy and an already growing interest in football and the backing of cricket and Bollywood stars, this is a venture that will surely see other European teams entering. How long will it be before Frank Lampard is loaned to another Manchester City venture in India?

All of this will surely see India achieve its stated aim of producing future world stars and have sufficient talent to qualify for the 2026 World Cup and recreate Indian football’s glory years of the 1950s.

l India’s new football league kicked off on Sunday with a spirited clash and a glitzy pyrotechnic opening ceremony that organisers hope will ignite the country’s passion for the ‘beautiful game’. Atletico de Kolkata trounced Mumbai City 3-0 in the first match of the Indian Super League (ISL).

Former Ethiopian captain Fikru Lemessa, scored in the first half, while Spaniard Borja Fernandez hit the net in the second, sending the home crowd at Salt Lake Stadium into raptures. Spain’s Arnal Carbo sealed the win with a goal in extra time.