One good thing the I-League does is to have the last round of matches at the same time. This reduces the chances of match fixing,teams playing for a draw etc. The ISL has only one match at a time , even during the last round of matches.Teams can play for a draw/rest players etc in case they get to know the previous set of results
It seems that money power is the only criteria required to be part of the ISL. All the initial excuses like one state/city one team etc are all excuses not to get smaller clubs . Reasons are below (1) - If the reason for one state one team was to be held true, then why are there two clubs from Maharashtra(Mumbai City and Pune City). (2) If EB and MB are taken in the ISL then it becomes 3 teams from Kolkata (3) EB and MB are the only I league clubs considering paying the Franchise Fees along with BFC (4) The most successful I league team (Dempo Sports Club) is not invited to play in the ISL (5) The most recent Winner of the I-League is not invited to play in the ISL. (6) Aizawl could easily be invited as there is no team from the state of Mizoram , NEUFC will have to remove the tag line 8 states , 1 team , Anyways they take players from all over India to play for them.
There is no doubt that ISL is a business-first approach. Nothing wrong in that, except a private party is hijacking the national league of a country for its own profit (for IPL, BCCI calls the shots, if we must compare), and the Fed and the football ecosystem in the country don't have anything at hand. And the details of it are most disturbing.
One City One Team policy, however, is not breached as Maharashtra is not one city . We may, of course, debate the wiseness of selecting Pune as a football city, based on our experiences. Three from Kolkata is a desparate attempt to keep everyone happy, though at the end it is unfair to ATK.
But the biggest blow is to Goa, and to the North East (forgive me for bundling seven footballing states into one), which nobody seems to be glossing over. Both used to have 3 to 4 teams in the top league at their peak. Which resulted in domination of the national scenario by Goan and North-Eastern (apologies, again) players. Now players from both the regions will have 6-7 places in the teams of their 'city' to look up to. Not a very bright carrier prospect for an avarage footballer, I must say. I think in the long run, this dampener will transform Goa into a cricketing state from a footballing state.
The decision of the Goan clubs of pulling out of I-league did not come to the benefit of any of the parties, least of all to Goan Football, except to place some minor discomfort to poor PP. And by that decision, the gravitas of Indian football has formally shifted to the other end of the geography (It is a different matter that ISL will kill that too at a later date). . . .
This is mourning time for Indian football, because the plurality and spontaneity of Indian football is wiped out but nothing coming up to replace it ...
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Each one will not have played more than 5 games each by the end.
Seems a desperate attempt by Party Jindal to win the Fed Cup.
One City One Team policy, however, is not breached as Maharashtra is not one city . We may, of course, debate the wiseness of selecting Pune as a football city, based on our experiences. Three from Kolkata is a desparate attempt to keep everyone happy, though at the end it is unfair to ATK.
But the biggest blow is to Goa, and to the North East (forgive me for bundling seven footballing states into one), which nobody seems to be glossing over. Both used to have 3 to 4 teams in the top league at their peak. Which resulted in domination of the national scenario by Goan and North-Eastern (apologies, again) players. Now players from both the regions will have 6-7 places in the teams of their 'city' to look up to. Not a very bright carrier prospect for an avarage footballer, I must say. I think in the long run, this dampener will transform Goa into a cricketing state from a footballing state.
The decision of the Goan clubs of pulling out of I-league did not come to the benefit of any of the parties, least of all to Goan Football, except to place some minor discomfort to poor PP. And by that decision, the gravitas of Indian football has formally shifted to the other end of the geography (It is a different matter that ISL will kill that too at a later date).
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This is mourning time for Indian football, because the plurality and spontaneity of Indian football is wiped out but nothing coming up to replace it ...