Thats the reality check...ISL is only for 1-2 season and those marquee player next yr. Will turn from bad to worse...but stil its worth to give a try...i lig aftr its 7th yr. Didnt show progress...isl is just a gamble...
Ya, but that is not the point. The I-League has failed after 7 years but have we even bothered to ask why? Based on how this whole thing started I bet during the first meeting between IMG-Reliance and the AIFF this happened:
"Okay, great to have you guys on board. Now, how can we improve the profile of the I-League?"
"The what?"
"The I-League?"
"What is that?"
"Our domestic football league... the league which is the best in our country."
"Ohhhhh, that league... no, forget those failures... that IPL though looks to be pretty good... lets see if this can work with football."
If it is going to be IPL style, then there is going to be match-fixing and a lot of players are going to get caught, as well as administrators, etc and then we shall see a closure of ISL.
Football survives in the world because of the fan following of the clubs. Indians do not have that culture, they never had. Apart from Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan, there is no other club in India who are die-hard followers even if they lose, play in 2nd division - whatever. That culture is absent pan-India. Indians are glory-hunters - they started following cricket after the world cup success.
Indian sports will survive in their glorified avatars - not like the shambles that I-League is in. Indian football needed a spark. Hopefully ISL will provide that.
If it becomes popular - I am damn sure everything else will fall in place to accomodate the new-found fan following - necessity is the mother of invention. New stadia, junior tournaments, kids development, yes everything will be done once money starts coming. Without money, there's nothing. So, "Follow the money". I welcome the bold step. Its an experiment, lets see how it happens. We needed this radical decision. Now, at least, my real friends are talking about football in India.
But being a follower of Indian football, I know how things fail - how NFL started with packed stadia in Goa and Bengal, but then came back to the shambles - how JCT and Mahindra shut their shop - how bad the management are. Even if ISL fails, do we have anything more to lose?
I agree @banskt that Indians are gloryhunters but the ISL is still not the way to bring them in... its a cheap way to gain their attention for around a month before they go back to their top European clubs.
Comments
http://www.footyshekkeer.in/2014/04/cochin-getting-ready-for-sachin.html#more
Indian sports will survive in their glorified avatars - not like the shambles that I-League is in. Indian football needed a spark. Hopefully ISL will provide that.
If it becomes popular - I am damn sure everything else will fall in place to accomodate the new-found fan following - necessity is the mother of invention. New stadia, junior tournaments, kids development, yes everything will be done once money starts coming. Without money, there's nothing. So, "Follow the money". I welcome the bold step. Its an experiment, lets see how it happens. We needed this radical decision. Now, at least, my real friends are talking about football in India.
But being a follower of Indian football, I know how things fail - how NFL started with packed stadia in Goa and Bengal, but then came back to the shambles - how JCT and Mahindra shut their shop - how bad the management are. Even if ISL fails, do we have anything more to lose?
http://www.indiansuperleague.com/