A veiled threat by All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel to the I-League clubs seems to have had a positive impact as the year long logjam over the national club licensing criteria has finally ended. Until some time back the 14 clubs had said they won't cooperate with the parent body until the I-League is a separate legal entity.
However, during the executive committee meeting last week, Patel told Dempo chairman Shrinivas Dempo and Shillong Lajong general secretary Larsing Ming, who are AIFF vice-presidents, that if the clubs fail to comply to the criteria by January 31, the AIFF has the right to take 'strict action' against them.
Those stern words has done to trick as a majority of the clubs have already agreed to the criteria while the others are expected to fall in line before January 26. The AIFF has already decided to expel Air India and ONGC at the end of the season for failing to meet the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) licensing criteria.
Salary cap
1) Again, another person who thinks that Indian football support is only in Kolkata and Goa... the north-east has produced constant crowds for even local matches that are bigger than Kolkata and Goa. Not a criticism of the entire work but just a thing to keep in mind.
2) Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh as markets? Have we even heard of football much in Ahmedabad? Mumbai... do they even have a stadium suitable for an IPL tournament?
Now then. Let me just get out of the way. The points he makes overall are good and honestly I have been thinking about this in my spare time. Taking into account what @gaffertape and @Rudra have said. Honestly the idea of a franchise league in India is not bad. Obviously franchise sports leagues is the way India is heading, in opposite to what England is doing.
Its a good idea and an idea that should have appealed to me considering I come from a country with all franchise leagues. My problem though is the way its would be ran. You can give me all this information about how great the IPL is or the recent HIL is but please remember that football is not hockey or cricket. It's football. Football is not a sport in which you can have a domestic league for 6 months and then a 2 month publicity league. It just wont work and will create massive confusion.
The only way I would have agreed to this league is if IMG stopped for a second and looked closely at what they are doing. If you are going to start a franchise football league (FOOTBALL) then instead of looking at fully the IPL also look at the successful franchise football leagues already around like MLS. Start this IPL-Football league but have it longer than 2 months.
That is not pan-India but at least it is a start. You need to start somewhere and these markets are either proven to already work (Kolkata, Goa, Kolhapur, Kerala, Shillong) or have ready infrastructure (Delhi and Ranchi). As the league progresses we could add more markets like Bangalore, Aizawl, Punjab, Pune, Chennai etc but at this moment these markets either are not ready football markets or dont have the ready infrastructure.
As for format, I would like IMG to make this a 6-month event with a 4-game play-offs at the end. Its exciting and India loves these kinds of things. Have each team play each other twice (14 games) and then split them based on region. Goa, Kolhapur, Kerala, Delhi for one group and Kolkata (2), Shillong, and Ranchi for the other. Have each team play the teams in their groups twice (6 more games = 20 in total) and then 2 more against 2 teams in the other group (call it "inter-conference play"). Then after the 22 games have the top 4 teams move into the play-offs. 1st plays 4th. 2nd plays 3rd. Winners play each other for the championship.
Its simple and its exciting. Also what I want IMG to take into consideration is better icons. Guys like Jay-Jay wont make the league successful. We need top players. Not super-stars but guys who still at least play.
Guys like John Carrew or Gianluca Zambrotta would love to come to India.
As for its influence on Indian football. This IMG-League should either go over the I-League or not happen at all. Simple as that. They can not co-exist. And I would be happy if this was to happen and we made this as the first tier of Indian football.
Oh, and salary caps and roster rules would actually be nice. And a good TV contract.
@Arsenalkid700 I think that their idea is to promote football thru IPL in those areas which do not have football clubs in I-league. Thats why they chose areas such as Ahmedabad, delhi,bangalore, chennai, chandigarh. Yes they have stadiums which can be modified-ex-cricket stadiums. The present clubs will not allow new franchises to eat into their market at Shillong, Calcutta, Goa etc. Ranchi is a hockey/cricket center and kolhapur do not have airport. They are looking at big cities.
> sanvedjadhav said:
> @munna21977 kolhapur has an airport.... kingfisher airlines used to operate weekly flights here...but was suspended due to financial constraints
Yes but now kingfisher is gone forever. One needs regular airport with daily flights.
I am bias to the world model of promotion/relegation. Just so you know where i am coming from.
If this franchise league is for 2 months, fine then have it after the i-league season finishes. I am sure there will be some +ve effect of this league on football in India. But it would be nice if IMG-Relience put that energy into the i-league.
Now if they want this franchise league to be the main football league, which would mean the death of the i-league then i am complete against it. I just saw that 47 teams wanted to join the second division of the i-league, in which 21 teams got selected, what happens to them, what happens to the 14 i-league teams?
I-league is not perfect but its getting better, we have sikkim and shillong who are adding diversity and atmosphere to the game. in the 21 team that got selected for 2nd division their is a team fron Nagaland, Delhi,Orissa,Mizoram,Kerala,Bangalore,Guwahati,Pune,Mumbai,Goa,Kolkata. That should excite you, it does to me.
@kali007 First off I want to say that I am fine and I understand your viewpoint on promotion/relegation.
But I just want to get this out. People need to go more deep into the football structure. When I hear reasons for why promotion/relegation should remain I get the usual reasons: It is more exciting, new markets, fans, pan-India etc etc. Yet we are failing to go more deeper into it.
Take for example United Sikkim. When they were promoted in 2012 everyone was happy. Its a new market, they have fans, more pan-India and its exciting but now look. They are struggling for sponsors, the fanfare is not as high, the club has no money, no marketing at all, failing online as well, and their stadium is far from good. They dont even have a training ground!!!!
Now dont get me wrong. I want promotion/relegation in India to but I dont see it working now. I see it, like Japan saw, working in 6-8 years if the right moves are made. Dont expand to 16 teams. I dont know what idiots see this as good. More travel, less fanfare, the quality would decrease as the talent pool of real talent is so small in India. We are just not ready for that yet.
I would rather see India have the I-League. 10 teams. 18 games then we are done. Have the IPL-League in the offseason and whatever profits are made invest that into I-League. Then maybe by 2018 when we could have an 18 team I-League we can create a 2nd Division... A PROPER ONE.... not some shit 2-3 month tournament.
Ok, i see what you are saying and its fair point of view but i disagree with something you have written.
First, because Sikkim Fc is struggling on many fronts doesn't mean they dont deserve to be there, they have challenges which could be solved with better admins (online,marketing,sponsors), The other problem of stadium and training ground will take time. They are a new team maybe they will get relegated but i have faith that team is here for the long run and with a 2nd division they can have another go at it.
Promotion/relegation is working, teams have got promoted and teams have got relegated. Now its not fair to call people idiots because they would like to see the i-league grow.
Having 2 more team is not outrageous and can easily be viable in my opinion.
I think that there is talent in India, but people are not looking everywhere but instead trusting a couple of academy for talents.
10 team league in India, where we already have 14 teams playing in the top division, 21 teams in the 2nd division. countless more in local league around the country. Sorry but i think we are on opposite end of the spectrum.
As for 2nd division format, i agree its not optimal but its something. The reason for it i believe is because of the cost of travel for these clubs is too much, flying from one side of the country to the other. Before you say thats a reason why they shouldn't be 2nd division, in america you have 2nd teir league which split into regions because of the expense of travel.
Comments
Clubs fall in line, AIFF to cap salaries
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/clubs-fall-in-line-aiff-to--cap-salaries/1064502/0
A veiled threat by All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Praful Patel to the I-League clubs seems to have had a positive impact as the year long logjam over the national club licensing criteria has finally ended. Until some time back the 14 clubs had said they won't cooperate with the parent body until the I-League is a separate legal entity.
However, during the executive committee meeting last week, Patel told Dempo chairman Shrinivas Dempo and Shillong Lajong general secretary Larsing Ming, who are AIFF vice-presidents, that if the clubs fail to comply to the criteria by January 31, the AIFF has the right to take 'strict action' against them.
Those stern words has done to trick as a majority of the clubs have already agreed to the criteria while the others are expected to fall in line before January 26. The AIFF has already decided to expel Air India and ONGC at the end of the season for failing to meet the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) licensing criteria.
Salary cap
SALARY CAP is a very good move by the AIFF
=D>
I cant understand, what is salary cap
Ten Indian youngsters to watch out for in 2013
http://www.sportskeeda.com/2013/01/01/ten-indian-youngsters-to-watch-out-for-in-2013/
> Arsenalkid700 said:
> Points from that article:
@Arsenalkid700 I think that their idea is to promote football thru IPL in those areas which do not have football clubs in I-league. Thats why they chose areas such as Ahmedabad, delhi,bangalore, chennai, chandigarh. Yes they have stadiums which can be modified-ex-cricket stadiums. The present clubs will not allow new franchises to eat into their market at Shillong, Calcutta, Goa etc. Ranchi is a hockey/cricket center and kolhapur do not have airport. They are looking at big cities.
@munna21977 kolhapur has an airport.... kingfisher airlines used to operate weekly flights here...but was suspended due to financial constraints
> sanvedjadhav said:
> @munna21977 kolhapur has an airport.... kingfisher airlines used to operate weekly flights here...but was suspended due to financial constraints
Yes but now kingfisher is gone forever. One needs regular airport with daily flights.
I am bias to the world model of promotion/relegation. Just so you know where i am coming from.
@kali007 First off I want to say that I am fine and I understand your viewpoint on promotion/relegation.
Ok, i see what you are saying and its fair point of view but i disagree with something you have written.