Are we a slower version of Japanese Football
Arsenalkid700
7 Points
This is in fact very interesting. I just finished my homework and I started what I usually do after homework which is do a little editing on Indian Football on wikipedia but I still stubbled upon the wikipedia page of the old/defunct Japanese Soccer League (JSL). After learning and reading about it from this article which not only talks about the league but Japanese Football overall I just thought to myself "Hey! This is almost what Indian Football is going through right now."
Here is the link with the very detailed story...
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.soccerphile.com/soccerphile/archives/wc2002/fo/co/jf.html"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.soccerphile.com/soccerphile/ ... co/jf.html</a><!-- m -->
But here is my take on it.
1) It starts by talking about its beginnings in the 1800's and early 1900's which is also what India did as well.
2) The it went straight from there to the 1960's and the birth of there first national league... the Japanese Soccer League. (This is actually one of the reasons for the title of the thread. As you can see Japan got there first national league in 1960's while we got ours in 1996.) Now when it talks about the JSL it says that when it started they had 8 teams from 5 different areas which is similar to the I-League today because we currently have 14 teams from 5 different areas (West Bengal, Maharashtra, Northern-India, Goa, and the south). It then talks about the competition with Baseball (which is very similar to cricket) and how that dominated the land and lowed football support. It then talks about how the teams were owned and named after companies like our teams are. (Nissan FC, Toyota United FC) It even mentions how most of the players were actual company workers which is actually not really the case anymore in India but still exists. It then talks about the Baichung Bhutia of Japan in Kamamoto Kunishige who took Japanese Football by storm but still attendance dropped which if you think about it also happened here. They then talked about the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan of Japan in Yomiuri Soccer Club and Nissan FC who drew crowds of 60,000 for there matches.
3) Then came the need for a new league in which the JSL folded and a new professional J. League formed with ALL the company teams changing names and new city/state clubs forming (Pune FC, United Sikkim over here) and ever sense... well you know what happens. Basically it seems that we are doing the same thing now but we are doing it later than Japan and slower to.
Here is the link with the very detailed story...
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.soccerphile.com/soccerphile/archives/wc2002/fo/co/jf.html"; onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.soccerphile.com/soccerphile/ ... co/jf.html</a><!-- m -->
But here is my take on it.
1) It starts by talking about its beginnings in the 1800's and early 1900's which is also what India did as well.
2) The it went straight from there to the 1960's and the birth of there first national league... the Japanese Soccer League. (This is actually one of the reasons for the title of the thread. As you can see Japan got there first national league in 1960's while we got ours in 1996.) Now when it talks about the JSL it says that when it started they had 8 teams from 5 different areas which is similar to the I-League today because we currently have 14 teams from 5 different areas (West Bengal, Maharashtra, Northern-India, Goa, and the south). It then talks about the competition with Baseball (which is very similar to cricket) and how that dominated the land and lowed football support. It then talks about how the teams were owned and named after companies like our teams are. (Nissan FC, Toyota United FC) It even mentions how most of the players were actual company workers which is actually not really the case anymore in India but still exists. It then talks about the Baichung Bhutia of Japan in Kamamoto Kunishige who took Japanese Football by storm but still attendance dropped which if you think about it also happened here. They then talked about the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan of Japan in Yomiuri Soccer Club and Nissan FC who drew crowds of 60,000 for there matches.
3) Then came the need for a new league in which the JSL folded and a new professional J. League formed with ALL the company teams changing names and new city/state clubs forming (Pune FC, United Sikkim over here) and ever sense... well you know what happens. Basically it seems that we are doing the same thing now but we are doing it later than Japan and slower to.
Comments
Na I still feel we are making huge strides quickly. Like with the new teams coming out like Pune and Sikkim. I say in 15-20 years we will be a super power. Anyway what I mean with the fact that we are going slower is that we are going step by step when the JFA in Japan did everything in one meeting. They did a new league, new teams with new named teams, new owners and sponsors, new stadiums, new international format all in one year while here in India we are doing the same but in steps, not all at once.
Yep we are but it is not a bad thing. In the long term if what we are doing now works we will have the second golden age starting 2022.
exactly if we can keep an eye on changes aiff made in current season we can see that, in next 6-8 years a completely professional league with pro teams who are knowledgeable about the sports reach and have well organised system in place for the game and their club to succeed
Yep in the next 6-8 years I see this...
A good 60,000 to 80,000 seater Salt Lake Stadium (when putting in bucket seats everywhere in the stadium the capacity decreases). A good 20,000 seater Cooperage with bucket seats. A good 15,000 to 20,000 seater Bangalore Football Stadium with bucket seats. A new remodeled Kaloor International Stadium that is renovated into a football ground (the Kerala Cricket Board said they are making a new stadium for cricket so Kaloor will become all football) and maybe it will have a good 40,000 capacity with bucket seats. A new better 25,000 seater Paljor Stadium in Sikkim with bucket seats and a new JNS in Shillong with 25,000 capacity with bucket seats. A new redeveloped Fatorda Stadium with 20,000 bucket seats and hopefully a Dempo Stadium and Churchill Stadium (each with 30,000 capacity). Also the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune would have a second tier to it making it 25,000 capacity)
Then the league would look like this in 6-8 years,
United Sikkim FC
Royal Wahingdoh FC
Shillong Lajong FC
Mohun Bagan AC
East Bengal FC
Siliguri United FC (Prayag United are moving to Siliguri in 2012)
Mumbai FC
Pune FC
Bangalore City FC (old HAL)
Sporting Clube de Goa
Vasco SC (a merger of Vasco SC [old one] and Salgaocar SC)
Panjim United FC (old Dempo)
New Delhi United FC
Ernakulam Football Club (Kochi, Kerala)
The national team will also be in 6 to 8 years in the 80-100 range and regulars in the AFC Asian Cup. Then we would make the World Cup for the first time sense 1950 in 2022 (72 years later) but fail to do anything really in the World Cup, maybe round of 16.
INDIA FOR WC2022
Also for all you doubters remember... as years go by here in India, football knowledge will grow and people will understand it more. And some of those people will soon join the AIFF and with there great football knowledge not only on Indian Football but World Football and the structure its in they will make everything better in how the world looks at India. If Japan can do it, WHY NOT US!