Recently we have seen death of Mafatlal fc, Mahindra fc, JCT and Palian Arrows. Most of the clubs in the country are facing financial crunch. Chit fund scam has affected investment in all the Kolkata clubs. In current depressing scene where football clubs are crying for fans and money, the success story of Bengaluru fc presents a very different picture.
The club is Bangalore based. It opened it’s operations barely 6 months before. It got direct entry into I League (unlike the 2nd division promotion route) and promised to fulfill the expectations of AIFF in response. JSW group are the owner and sponsor of the club.
Within 7 days of the birth, club made some eyebrow raising signings. Ashley Westwood, who has worked as an assistant coach of Blackburn Rovers, was signed to be manager cum coach of the club. To give the club a pan Indian image, two best young Indian strickers, both from Delhi were signed. Robin Singh is enjoying the weather of this southern city and Sunil Chetri has already scored 8 goals. In the forward line, they have their own Rooney- ‘Sean Rooney’ who is following Chetri in goal count. Young Salgaocar purchase Pawan Kumar is a regular under the bar.
When Westwood came to India, he knew that he had a tough job at hand. He walked extra mile and distributed pamphlets in shopping malls for the popularity of the club. To attract the youth, collages were approached and a few hoarding- ads did real work. It helped in increasing the awareness level of the people of the city.
Club wears jersey with crest which resembles Bangalore Palace. It is a sign of victory when native Wodeyars dynasty took the palace back from English troops. Picture of blue Gandaberunda, a mythical two headed bird with magical powers is embedded in the middle of the crest. Incidentally, it was a symbol on the coat of arm of Karnataka state and presently is the symbol of state. It all gave club a sense of belongingness.
Club uses all sorts of social media to stay connected with the fans. 8000 strong crowd can often be seen during club’s matches. Club has not disappointed them and currently won all I league games at home, except one. They are running for title in I League.
Soccer is growing. CEO Mustafa Ghouse shares the view. He admits that soccer scene in the country is very positive. There are many football lovers who have been to Europe for long period of time. Others follow European Leagues and desires for same soccer culture here in India.
The club tied up with a local pub to give the loyalist a feeling. It is the official pub of the club. Here matches of the club are shown on giant screen and loyalists cheer whole heartedly for them.
Club owns and maintains a stadium ‘Bangalore football stadium’ in the heart of the city. It can accommodate a crowd of 15000 people. In addition to it, it has a VIP box and a press area.
Mumbai fc was also started with same zeal a few years ago. It clearly has lost the steam and currently their home games took place in Pune. Example of rise and fall of India’s first professional football club fc Kochi can also be seen. Bengaluru fc has to be very cautious if they want to run a long race. May their bold dreams come true.