Hero, alongwith Airtel and JSW showed interest in Indian football. AIFF had failed to rope in as sponsors. It's good that Hero is back again in Indian football, though in a different league.
OMG!! SPONSORS! Who said SPONSORS? Are we having SPONSORS...for indian football?? OMG... cant believe it... @arsenalfan700 you know what bro... this is exactly what we need...screw I league clubs except those who are sincerely working...they have no money and have poor organisation... even though we know ISL is about making money...LOTS OF MONEY......but just think if everything falls into place and even though if its for money, if we have proper youth system with ISL teams in action and a bigger league in 10 years...it will be amazing...dont you think so??
@coolgagan I really don't know. I think this gif can describe how I feel right now about ISL and Indian football. It just feels weird. I am not fully set on this league as I do not believe a 2-3 month league based on marquees who recently retired (Garcia "retired" in February). Also it is hard to predict the fan reaction and profits that could potentially be gained.
Personally I feel that if this league really wants to steal my heart then first off they need to get all the teams revealed by the end of July. Logos, kits etc are then revealed by the end of the first week of August. Then have all rosters and stadiums confirmed by mid to late August. Start the ISL with a bang. Market the league like you would the IPL. Really make the ISL feel as new as how SKY Sports made the Premier League feel new in 1992. But perhaps makeitmodern. Have a good first season and end with the good old IPL style bang.
This I feel they can do... the problem will be after the first season. ISL does not have FIFA sanctioning and I doubt the I-League owners will go down without a fight. This real test will be then. What is the next step? What will we do from here? Will we eventually see a full ISL season? Will we see an "ISL Youth League"? Will we see football-only stadiums? Will popularity really rise in India for domestic football?
Early signs say yes but it we are a long way off finding the answer.
1) Are the Indian players practicing yet with their teams? NO
2) Team Rosters decided NO
3) Supposed to be 6-7 Foreigners per team. Where are they other then journalists throwing some names. Are the Foreigners in India? NO
4) Coach, Coaching Staff NO
5) Stadiums - especially Mumbai Cooperage Ground NO
6) Athletico Kolkata has to play Athletico Madrid once as per their agrrement as promotional event so they will assemble one squad for that. Done confuse that one off game with ISL.
Now can they manage to solve these issues in next 45 days? September is not far.
ISL will bungle in the first season but then will get its act together second season onwards ... and will be popular and a success without doubt. ISL success will rapidly kill the already anaemic I-league. May be then they will stretch ISL longer, and then it will start to have its true impact.
I do not think the two leagues can be merged, as is being suggested, because they are different as chalk and cheese. One has to take upper-hand -- in this case, ISL. So I think a slow death is awaiting for the traditional clubs like East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Vasco. Some fortunate (and deserving) clubs like Bengaluru FC probably will be co-opted by ISL in future.The traditional clubs kind of deserved it, though. They contributed only to the gradual downfall of Indian football. However, let's see if the new league changes fortune for Indian football.
The Indian football scenario is going to change ... and I am trying to visualize Bengal Football without the big two ...
I think that 90% of IFN members support ISL now. Neither FIFA nor AFC recognise this event with retired players and which do not satisfy any guidelines. Remember how couple of years back, everybody wanted to shut down Pailan arrows, ONGC, Air India so that we get AFC points. What happened now??? How many points are we getting by shutting down I-League and having on-paper league (not even paper, only imaginary with retired players) league??
@munna219777 : ISL begins on 19 Sept. So still, there are almost 60 days to go. As @Deb_Ban rightly said, it is gonna be a bungle in the beginning. But, inspite of this ISL is gonna grow cause of glamour and big names. Indians love glamour and are therefore glory hunters. If there was no GLAMOUR in IPL it would not be such a success. I went for one of the matches in IPL, KKR was playing RR. There were people who literally had come to the stadium to see shahrukh. It had nothing to do with the game at all. So these things go hand in hand. As for I league, its not that no one supports that. Im just as excited about Joan Capdevila joining NEUFC(Yes its official now) as I was for Walker joining bengaluru FC. See Im a true football fan and I am sure that all of you here are that too.
Comments
@arsenalfan700 you know what bro... this is exactly what we need...screw I league clubs except those who are sincerely working...they have no money and have poor organisation... even though we know ISL is about making money...LOTS OF MONEY......but just think if everything falls into place and even though if its for money, if we have proper youth system with ISL teams in action and a bigger league in 10 years...it will be amazing...dont you think so??
1) Are the Indian players practicing yet with their teams? NO
2) Team Rosters decided NO
3) Supposed to be 6-7 Foreigners per team. Where are they other then journalists throwing some names. Are the Foreigners in India? NO
4) Coach, Coaching Staff NO
5) Stadiums - especially Mumbai Cooperage Ground NO
6) Athletico Kolkata has to play Athletico Madrid once as per their agrrement as promotional event so they will assemble one squad for that. Done confuse that one off game with ISL.
Now can they manage to solve these issues in next 45 days? September is not far.
Neither FIFA nor AFC recognise this event with retired players and which do not satisfy any guidelines. Remember how couple of years back, everybody wanted to shut down Pailan arrows, ONGC, Air India so that we get AFC points. What happened now??? How many points are we getting by shutting down I-League and having on-paper league (not even paper, only imaginary with retired players) league??
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