@dhritiman7 ISL is only about business. Even if i agree ISL would improve infrastructure. It won't develop Indian football as a whole.
My point is : Even if we have 10 Camp nou stadiums in India. Unless and Until we develop football culture among masses of this country, it won't develop the game.
@dhritiman7 this is called status quo and people are stuck to it. we are normally like what we have and we think that can be improved. Nobody understands, this same logic works for Kolkata fans or Goa fans, they had a kind of football structure and no one wants it to run like BFC or PFC. Now the new age fans are no different, they are unable to think beyond PFC, BFC kind of structure.
When t20 WC started many indian seniors opted out they never thought that would be future, many were sceptical of IPL. When SRK dropped Ganguly out of team, most bengalis said we wont support it, but when KKR won it was a different story. When some said that Bangalore can have a football team, people said no, new age EPL fans wont come to stadium, but BFC proved otherwise.
I see many talk about profit making, as if that is a problem, of course cricketers, filmstars and whoever should come not to improve Indian football but to make profit and if they can make profit that would mean there is a market for football in India. It there is money there would be more investment and automatically some of it can help Indian football, whether that was the ultimate goal or not.
I see a statement like AIFF should bring more corporates into I-League. HOW? who will make money with I-League? most will run it like Essel world - Mumbai FC. How much have you spent on I-League viiewing, how much you see others spending? How can Ten Action suddenly make the viewing experience better, when the football played by top teams is extremely poor quality. How would AIFF bring glamour from nothing?
I-League remains an economical disaster, everyone wants fancy players in the league but the truth remains that players like Ranti, Joshimar, Yakubu, Rooney, Tolgey are dominating the league and we have no answers for them, most Indian stars become 1-2 season wonder and most teams are unable to sustain their promises as they see the gloomy picture. No TV channel can make it fancy, and they also need to take care of their profit. Few journalist cover the league, most just use AIFF report.
The thing is you can't discard an idea saying it doesn't work because no one does it. Football doesn't work like this is extremely poor choice of words, because you need to innovate. ISL remains our answer of innovation and I will keep my fingers crossed, hoping for positive. And with everyone vying for a MBA, working or trying to work in profit making capitalist multinational companies it is really silly to criticise corporates to come for ISL just for profit. Everything requires money, we can't do what Japan did as AIFF is a beggar association and you can't change it overnight.
Dont judge the sport with the level of exposure you get or with the number of fans you get in the stadium, I-League isnt dead, It will rise if you make a few changes.
ISL Will be the laughing stock of the face of Indian football and anyone who think they will unearth indian talent or will build infrastructure is seriously going to be proved wrong. Worse its a proven hand when celebrity and sports meet, Corruption, Match fixing and Money money money.
With this kind of Headlines, this league only purpose is to promote stars like Tendulkar, Ganguly, Salman, Ranbir. Football is just an excuse as there will be awareness of Football because of World Cup year and people will talk about Football in 2014 because of World Cup. So they need to link tendulkar, ganguly, ranbir kapoor with the brands they endorse and football. Will they play any football? Who will play??
@Rudra Listen mate, your heart is in the right place and what you said was well said but please, use some brains here. Just because we have seen a few surprises in Bengaluru FC, KKR, and the IPL does not mean it could work for ISL and Indian football. I know you have not said it will but that you are being patient but lets discuss this... How can the ISL actually work with an IPL format?
This league is just a glorified money attempt to promote past cricket players and bollywood stars and then perhaps a European club trying to squeeze its way into the Indian market. Meanwhile you have random corporates throwing money at this league with the thought that throwing money can just fix all our problems... it won't. It all depends on what you do with that money and right now i don't see the money being used wisely.
And also, the rosters. 10 foreigners per team!!!! 8 Indians!!!! 4 Locals!!!! How the bloody fuck are we supposed to improve with that? Who will these foreigners be? This league will take place between September and November... quality foreigners will be either starting their seasons or at the end of their seasons so good luck finding actual good players.
And marquee's? Who? Dwight Yorke? A guy who has not played in five years and who is now 42 years old. Robert Pires? A guy who could only manage a half with a 4th tier Greek side last season. Freddy Ljungberg? A guy who looked like complete shit in the MLS and J. League. Hernan Crespo? He has already said to had begun his coaching badges so ya, what return to playing?
The only good marquee they have is Louis Saha but even then he has not been worth a damn since 2010.
This league will end up being a sham, people will pay attention for the names at first but then once they see the product they will run back to their EPL, their La Liga, their Bayern Munich etc and once again give a rats ass about Indian football. The ISL will decline big time and will thus put a lot of investers and corporates in massive debts and thus Indian football would be pushed back even further.
It will be interesting to know FPAI stand on this issue. How many Indian players will be signing on the dotted line for this scam again after last year fiasco.
Comments
My point is : Even if we have 10 Camp nou stadiums in India. Unless and Until we develop football culture among masses of this country, it won't develop the game.
top bosses of football never tried to improve the league only gave "so much time"
With this kind of Headlines, this league only purpose is to promote stars like Tendulkar, Ganguly, Salman, Ranbir. Football is just an excuse as there will be awareness of Football because of World Cup year and people will talk about Football in 2014 because of World Cup. So they need to link tendulkar, ganguly, ranbir kapoor with the brands they endorse and football.
Will they play any football? Who will play??