@goalkeeper Your both the posts have many valid points which I really appreciate. As an Indian Football lover I always want to see my Country perform at least reasonably well in International arena... which I think every Indian wants. For that we have to have a supply of talented players & grassroot development is essential. This is where AIFF have failed right through their existence. I strongly believe that a 3 m tournament where mostly "past their prime Foreign Stars" & established Indian Stars play will not take Indian football any where..... simply because after 3-4 editions, ISL may not have any decent Indian players as supply line has already been cut off by the AIFF. We got to have a 7-10 m One Football League along with a knock out National Cup (played concurrantly with the league). Also we must encourage local leagues & other Invitational tournaments like IFA Shield, Durand Cup, Rovers Cup etc. etc. so that our budding talents get sufficient game time each season for their development. Yes... we need money..... & that is the bloody job of AIFF. What else they are supposed to do ? I know nothing of this sort is going to happen & we will continue get frustrated after each International match India plays. It is not ISL or I-League..... it is the IMG-R / AIFF nexus that is sabotaging Indian football to fill up their pockets & to convert black in to white money
IMO Indian football has been on either sides of two extreme: a) A institutional/government/lazzy attitude b) over commercialization. Thanks to the ineffectiveness of AIFF in controlling them before they started rotting the product.
I-league lost is sheen and effectiveness due to institutional teams. These team though produced quality players by giving opportunity to unknown players and also helped national team by investing money year after year with no return. But, their unwillingness to invest in popularization of the game has been the biggest impact in slow death of the league. AIFF should have stepped up and tried to mandate the popularization aspect of these teams. Another thing which I felt was lack of modernization and introduction of new ideas for off field activities especially from old teams like EB, MB, Dempo, etc. They were needed to be bit more professional and bit more attractive to the new generation of tech savy and modern youth. Unfortunately, the major demographics (people who eagerly follow the team) of these old teams are males who are in their late 30s and over. The attractiveness of these clubs to youth (people in 20s) is almost lost.
On the other hand, ISL is able to impact to other rest of the population who are tech savy and always into glamour. But they have over done the glamour quotient to such an extent that they are crumbling under their own weight. I would say they have over commercialized the commodity. They need to understand nobody is going to follow ISL in long run if National Team is not able to earn some reputation back and if the quality of Indian players dont improve. This ISL structure works if your NT team is at reasonable position and players are at reasonable level with other top players, which currently Indian football is lacking. For example, are going to buy a fully decorated basket of apple with quadruple the price if the quality of apple is same as earlier? I guess no. Thats is what is happen with ISL. IMG-R has created a over commercialized version of Indian football by decorating with shinning stars all over, yet the underlining quality is still the same. My major concern is the fact they have not done an iota of off field work to improve the quality. Football is 11 player game but having a 6 good player playing with 5 bad players will directly highlight the quality difference of the players. Another negative aspect of over commercialization is the need to gain profit at any expense. The direct impact which we are seeing is a short version of ISL which had hampered the National Team and a shorter FIFA recognized football league with no future. Apart from that there are gradual impacts on the life of mediocre footballers who cant make the cut into ISL, lack of opportunities for birth of new players, etc. AIFF should have stepped up here and said commercializing football is good but not at the expense of NT and National League.
Quite simple story really, When you are short of money, Lack creativity and no will to work on your own to make your life better you approach a bank.
It will give you the money but only under its conditions and looking after its assets. There are two ways you can look at recieving the loan.
A.) As a proud Indian who puts his hand up and says yes i need the money to make my life better and now am in a loan will act more responsibly with my house savings (Domestic football) and will eventually pay off the debt by which time i would have gained the maturity to handle my own house.
or
B.) I have money, So am gonna use it to spend for myself and not my family, Later on i will see the bank collection people at my home and taking away my things as mortgage as i was too lazy to repay the loan or be mature enough to be more disciplined.
In the end you dont get your house in order how can you blame the bank?
In continuation of the discussion at AFC News thread. Lets continue the I-league v ISL discussion here.
@ArsenalFan700 I agree franchise model which is growing in US or in Aus are far better and that is what we need in India. But, the current ISL is nowhere near to that model. Its taking direct cue from IPL model and trying to implement it here. This also because the IPL model requires lesser investment and high returns in short term compared to US/Aus model. In long terms (more than 10 years), US model will give you better returns. But I doubt IMG-Rel/Ambani's or franchise owner for that matter have patience for that.
@reddevil87 Fair enough, as long as the differences are recognized. Honestly, I hate the ISL for that but still "support" it cause they can still "change" from the IPL the the "usual" franchise format since the league is still in its infancy.
Hope football closes in India... What kind of thinking would go when you want football clubs to close in a tournament you dont like just for you to get pleasure?
Guys here dont like i-league as a package but never think of clubs to close down so i-league can be wrapped up, It just needs rebranding under better supervision and management with clubs/franchises.
Get your heads together man. Tommorrow EB is gonna be part of a combined league with ISL franchises too.. Deal with it.
Comments
Your both the posts have many valid points which I really appreciate. As an Indian Football lover I always want to see my Country perform at least reasonably well in International arena... which I think every Indian wants. For that we have to have a supply of talented players & grassroot development is essential. This is where AIFF have failed right through their existence. I strongly believe that a 3 m tournament where mostly "past their prime Foreign Stars" & established Indian Stars play will not take Indian football any where..... simply because after 3-4 editions, ISL may not have any decent Indian players as supply line has already been cut off by the AIFF. We got to have a 7-10 m One Football League along with a knock out National Cup (played concurrantly with the league). Also we must encourage local leagues & other Invitational tournaments like IFA Shield, Durand Cup, Rovers Cup etc. etc. so that our budding talents get sufficient game time each season for their development. Yes... we need money..... & that is the bloody job of AIFF. What else they are supposed to do ?
I know nothing of this sort is going to happen & we will continue get frustrated after each International match India plays. It is not ISL or I-League..... it is the IMG-R / AIFF nexus that is sabotaging Indian football to fill up their pockets & to convert black in to white money
It will give you the money but only under its conditions and looking after its assets. There are two ways you can look at recieving the loan.
A.) As a proud Indian who puts his hand up and says yes i need the money to make my life better and now am in a loan will act more responsibly with my house savings (Domestic football) and will eventually pay off the debt by which time i would have gained the maturity to handle my own house.
or
B.) I have money, So am gonna use it to spend for myself and not my family, Later on i will see the bank collection people at my home and taking away my things as mortgage as i was too lazy to repay the loan or be mature enough to be more disciplined.
In the end you dont get your house in order how can you blame the bank?
I expect a rational and calm discussion
Lets continue the I-league v ISL discussion here.
@ArsenalFan700 I agree franchise model which is growing in US or in Aus are far better and that is what we need in India. But, the current ISL is nowhere near to that model. Its taking direct cue from IPL model and trying to implement it here. This also because the IPL model requires lesser investment and high returns in short term compared to US/Aus model. In long terms (more than 10 years), US model will give you better returns. But I doubt IMG-Rel/Ambani's or franchise owner for that matter have patience for that.
What kind of thinking would go when you want football clubs to close in a tournament you dont like just for you to get pleasure?
Guys here dont like i-league as a package but never think of clubs to close down so i-league can be wrapped up, It just needs rebranding under better supervision and management with clubs/franchises.
Get your heads together man. Tommorrow EB is gonna be part of a combined league with ISL franchises too.. Deal with it.