The all new football tournament in IPL avatar is all set to launch between January to March next year. Speculations are high that players like Ronaldinho, Crespo, Zidane are cooling their heels to be a part of this mega event. It will be cash rich and surely, in this sub continent, it’s going to be the highest paid league. But before the kick off, it is getting all sort of controversies. All the aspects, facets are to be examined thoroughly.
Presently, the platform where footballers showcase their skills at their best in India is in I-League. Other options like Federation Cup, I league’s 2nd division, City leagues etc. have played the role of second fiddle. I league is more than a decade old and frankly it didn’t live up to the expectations. It has failed to draw crowd, sponsors, TRP and last but not the least representation from all parts of India. Clubs in its top flights are continuously coming from some specific cities, it is in fact has become a Rio-Sau Paulo cup of India. Disturbing news of non/under payment has been rife in the past. Tiffs between players and management are very common. Past champions JCT and Mahindra have shut down their shops. Arrows club, the dreamliner of AIFF has not attained full altitude and finding a sponsor has always been a far cry. All in all, the desired output is just too far.
The stumbling block in the way of 3 month IMG sponsored tournament is the denial by almost all the clubs in releasing their players. Their fear is genuine and might take the star value away from them. No franchise can afford to ignore local talents. How much service the retired or semi retired foreign players will provide is a big question mark. A similar league with stars like Cannavaro, Crespo etc. was to be started at the beginning of this year but it never came out of the paper. Paul Mansfield, famous football pundit has said forcefully that this league is wastage of both time and money and will supply nothing to Indian talent pool. Sponsors, players per team, participating cities, their franchise owners, prize money and even it’s name are some of the facets which raises more questions than answers.
A tournament based on IPL style has given mixed results in India, even in it’s alma mater, cricket. ICL and PHL were far from success and witnessed pre mature death. IBL is a pipe dream which is drawing some bad controversy over non inclusion of best of the talent from the world. No doubt, the new football tournament will give players much desired fame, respect and handsome amount to fill the pockets. It is even encouraging Tendulkar of football-Bhaichung Bhutia to tie up the shoe again. The tournament will be widely spread across the country and surely will draw talents. But are 3 months enough?
AIFF must concentrate on Indian tournament instead. Ground conditions, stadiums, infrastructures, television rights, good coaches, a calendar, pumping more money into domestic tournaments, encouraging talents, local participation are some of the many areas to be worked on. Football is the most popular game of the planet and it’s simply mystery why we are so far behind in this beautiful game.
Lastly, a lesson for all the federations has come recently from Hockey. The game has been a tug of war between 2 warring factions for a long time. Yet, Indian Junior Hockey team of girls has won Bronze medal in the World Cup without any financially driven league. It’s a lesson to be learnt. Indian soccer is clearly standing at a crossroad.