A billion plus is always a lucrative market. And, whenever economics casts an eye on it, apprehensions do take birth. In another generation, the occasional visits from the likes of Pele could well be considered as a purely sporting journey. But the now-often visits from the who’s who of the footballing world to a country that wouldn’t feature in the game’s field plan for all practical purposes, hardly seem anything more than sheer exploitation of that very base.
Starting from Diego Maradona, Diego Forlan, Oliver Kahn, Lionel Messi’s star-laden Argentina to German giants Bayern Munich, all undoubtedly provide the India football spectators with unseen spectacles. Though, when it comes to making an effort in helping the game grow in the country, these events seem to fall flat. Apart from an increased frenzy among the fans to make a dash for the respective jerseys to flaunt, impact of these names fails to tread beyond the stadia walls.
Another new entry in the list is the Premier League Soccer (PLS), a joint initiative of the Indian Football Association (IFA) and the Celebrity Management Group (CMG). Along with the likes of national team coach Savio Medeira, who has been quite vocal about the trips like Bayern’s “not helping Indian football” realistically, there are many who now increasingly doubt such events. The PLS organisers, however, have promised to buck that trend.
“It is true that a visit from Diego Maradona or a match between Argentina-Venezuela cannot help at grassroots level but what it does is attract people to the game of football and then it can inspire a whole new generation to take football seriously as a career,” CMG Executive Director Bhaswar Goswami said.
The six teams in the PLS fray have already netted close to `120 crore, with Argentine star Hernan Crespo and Italy’s 2006 World Cup winning skipper Fabio Cannavaro leading the line of the international stars, who would be the ‘icon players’ of the franchises. The PLS has lined up 35 matches and a total prize purse of `1.50 crore. Apart from an icon in each team, every squad would include six under-21 players, six-seven catchment or local players and nine to 14 top Indian players, who are not a part of the I-League, the organisers said, adding that the focus would be on finding new talent and creating space for football in the process.
“The IFA is the organising body. We would help the franchises in scouting the talent from their respective districts,” IFA vice-president Subrata Dutta said. “This is just a step towards making football financially viable. 50 per cent of the revenues would go to the franchises.”
“When big names play in front of 80,000 spectators at a high ticket value, even sponsors would think football is a good market to invest in and that is what is required; else football would be where it is now. Like in European and Latin American countries, we also want parents to be proud of their kids taking up football as career,” Goswami added.
However, it is this sheer presence of the ageing or semi-retired stars that casts a web of doubt over the claims. Star Indian striker Sunil Chettri concurred.
“I am a bit worried as far as PLS is concerned. The league would need to be strong enough to be able to benefit everyone,” he said. “Else, just coming and going of the big names hardly helps Indian football.”
“But it would definitely help to increase the profile of the country and hopefully it could benefit the game too in the process,” former India skipper and current Dempo star Climax Lawrence added.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF), meanwhile, would be keeping a close eye on the developmental aspect of the PLS.
“It is a district-based league and promises to unearth new talents. The federation has given its approval only after it was promised that the process would be followed religiously,” AIFF general secretary Kushal Das said.
“There are always pros and cons regarding such events and star players’ visit to India. They definitely help in increasing the interest level among people, but somewhere down the line if all that money could be rather spent on grassroot-level development of the game, it would be more beneficial,” Das added.
Ironically enough, the organisers have been claiming that the PLS would do for football what the IPL achieved for cricket. When it comes to money matters, the league might be able to roll in that kind of moolah, but in the hindsight, hasn’t the same IPL, which though made cricket coffers swell, been blamed for everything wrong that is now plaguing Indian cricket and beyond?
We can’t say yet how the PLS gamble will turn out to be, but if it can even raise the real and not virtual stake of Indian football by even an iota, much would have been achieved.
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