I quite like the model (that is, till some 'inside story' of bribes and money laundering crops up -- it's a shame I have such a negative frame of mind, but can't help, with the current state of Indian society). This is a 12-team, home and away, conference system, low cost, full fledged league with the stated aim of graduating a team to I-league. And it's popular.
I don't know what's preventing the other state associations from replicating this. IFA, for a change, should give CMG a second chance with this model. For their century old existence, they had failed to have a state league and depended on the popularity of the big 3.
North East is where the next Indian football star will come in future. The governments of all North Easter states, AIFF, NEUFC and India's corporate sector should come together and start a North East league involving local clubs such as Aizwal FC, SLFC, Wahingdoh etc. I am sure this will be good for Indian football.
Sanjoy Sen was right. Bengal has failed in youth development in all respects.
Jamshedpur has always had a good sports culture, They have 1-2 good academies apart from TFA. I don't think an ileague team can exist in isolation though, there has to be a decent state league before an ileague team comes up. however, India has a unique problem, where AIFF actively discourages any kind of mushrooming of good regional leagues and definitely puts all its might to ensure ileague is made as unattractive as possible for any new entrant. It took Japan hardly 1 decade to become a regional superpower, but then again there everyone was onboard with a single passion, here the only goal seems to be to lick IMG's white boots.
with a few small differences @ArsenalFan700, J league was never a joke in the footballing sense (the franchises were under FIFA guidlines, the league was the sole national league (players stayed with the teams for full year), and the clubs were allowed to represent the country from day 1 in Asia). Ofcourse all of these don't matter here as the white messiahs from #IMG have told us that they know best and who are we to argue against them? long live #ISL, i have anyways given up on Indian football.
If only had AIFF managed the stuff properly there wouldn't have been any need of ISL but then thats another story..
@deepakc unlike the Indian counterparts funds were never a problem for the Japenese..Inspite of that they struggled to get a proper fan following and it happened only when they engaged in aggressive promotion campaigns not only through football but also engaging in community works thereby creating a strong bond with the local population. These changed the fortunes and they became what they are today.
Comments
I don't know what's preventing the other state associations from replicating this. IFA, for a change, should give CMG a second chance with this model. For their century old existence, they had failed to have a state league and depended on the popularity of the big 3.