I'll prefer neither until we actually find more about them other than they draw fans.
A U14 youth game can draw a crowd there. As for Balewadi... it was a game between 2 teams from the other side of the country playing in a stadium which is capacity smaller than the one in Manipur and which is not in the city.
Minerva, for all the good intent, HAS NOT drawn fans and is unlikely to do so till they adopt a city
NErOcA has performed well on pitch,have groomed local talent & built a team around local local stars, obviously had huge support...comes from a state which has got its basics right with a functioning state league, come from the state capital....all theses are reasons enough to reward any team with a place in top flight.....
But they surely cant pay the IMG ransom money of 15 cr-20cr (that is probably more than 3 times their team annual budget)so probably will remain winning manipur state leagues.....talent and support be damned
If I were a betting man, I would say Minerva will play first in top division simply because Punjab is a bigger " untapped market" for IMG.
Manipur requires an ileague team as it would help them develop local talent and it might help them improve their local league as people will now try to get into an ileague team. Jackiechand would have been playing ileague from 2011-12 itself,had there been a ileague team there.
A Punjabi team may be more lucrative option but as Manipur it far better footballing state it will surely help them. Football is in their culture,most of the kids start playing football from childhood, just like we play cricket here. So,we might a potential Chetri or Bhutia out there.
Maybe with better scouting in the initial years we can get better players from that state. Imagine a under-19 or under-16 state league for the state. Most of the kids there try for other clubs or academy like TFA, CFA,Pune FC n all and those might not be the best of the lot as many kids might not be leaving the state. What if you give proper coaching to those kids at the age of 12-13 in Manipur itself. A better league means better coaching even at state level. Many talented kids join army, or rebels due to lack of option in that state. If you support kids right from the initial stages who will definitely find better versions of Jackie, Seithya ,Renedys out there. Mizoram is benefiting due to their MPL and grassroot work and you may find some good players from their team Aizawl FC next year. Or in the coming years they might have some kids who will do good at national stage at least. Same thing applies for other state like Manipur too. Even a North east premier league will be great for that part of the country.
I feel that recently TFA kids are lagging behind in their development coz in Jamshedpur they don't face quality opponents. It would have been good had they been playing in CFL or GPL.
Comments
A U14 youth game can draw a crowd there. As for Balewadi... it was a game between 2 teams from the other side of the country playing in a stadium which is capacity smaller than the one in Manipur and which is not in the city.
A Punjabi team may be more lucrative option but as Manipur it far better footballing state it will surely help them. Football is in their culture,most of the kids start playing football from childhood, just like we play cricket here. So,we might a potential Chetri or Bhutia out there.
What if you give proper coaching to those kids at the age of 12-13 in Manipur itself. A better league means better coaching even at state level.
Many talented kids join army, or rebels due to lack of option in that state. If you support kids right from the initial stages who will definitely find better versions of Jackie, Seithya ,Renedys out there.
Mizoram is benefiting due to their MPL and grassroot work and you may find some good players from their team Aizawl FC next year. Or in the coming years they might have some kids who will do good at national stage at least.
Same thing applies for other state like Manipur too. Even a North east premier league will be great for that part of the country.
I feel that recently TFA kids are lagging behind in their development coz in Jamshedpur they don't face quality opponents. It would have been good had they been playing in CFL or GPL.