The ISL and the traditional footballing culture in india
Category : SPORTS Author : Subhadeep Biswas Date : Sun Mar 25 2018
With the ever increasing popularity and dominance of the game of soccer across the globe, the number of fans from India tuning in and subscribing to foreign football matches, and even streaming them online has urged the very powerful individuals of the nation into investing millions of money into what we refer to as the INDIAN SUPER LEAGUE (ISL) today. A number of teams owned by some of the most well known celebrities and businessmen take part every year during the months of October and November for the three to four months long tournament, which is more of a league and knockout, than a league. While a league depends on points and games played itself to determine the table toppers and the relegation battle outs, a league and knockout focuses more on the winners rather than the losers, or the bottom halves of the tables. A reason for this is probably because of the fact than unlike most of the leagues around the world, or even the I-LEAGUE, which is still the dominating league in the country, and the traditional one of course, the ISL still possess a single tier, and hence they have not deemed it necessary to concentrate the tournament and its popularity into those teams which finish at the bottom half of the table after all the rounds have been played out. If it had been so, it would have been extremely necessary to demote these lower half teams into the second division. A simple yet challenging aspect they could have focused on is merging the two premier soccer leagues together. Also, even though they had previously thought of it, but the decisions they were concluding to referred to the demotion of the I-League down to the second tier of the system, promoting the ISL to the top. Thus the teams which finish at the bottom of the table will go on and play with the eastbengals and mohunbagans in the second division.
And even though this seems a decent enough idea, most of the football fanatics of this country have been following the I-league for most of their lives now. The Bengal derby, or the famous eastbengal- mohunbagan rivalry is still the most popular and the fiercest game played out at the biggest stadium in the country, the yuvabharati krirangan stadium, or simply putting it, the Salt Lake stadium. The baichung bhutias of this world, or the famous chima, or barretto, have all earned their names through the I-League. The ISL, although much more attractive, and much more decorated, is much of a money game than a soccer one. Merging the two leagues in terms of adding the two together, will probably do the country much better justice rather than putting them at such a length apart from each other. Of course, it’s easier said than done, and the AIFF needs to face a lot of challenges from both sets of bodies as well as their fans, but it’s the only way out for Indian football. Most of the talents are spurning their big chances of playing abroad and getting sucked into the fights between the governing bodies, who guarantee them salaries and government jobs in order to hold them back in their own country, and literally end their careers in the game. It’s been almost a century since India has been recognized as a decent enough footballing nation. A country of 1.32 billion people, and where soccer is so ardently followed, we haven’t been able to cluster together a group of 20-22 guys who can gather up and form a decent enough squad to compete at the very highest levels.
A very common belief and argument that the soccer fans of our country possess is that cricket being the number one sport here, it has completely or wholly engulfed the population into following it ever so blindly. And even though this argument might be to some extent true, a person who daily follows the condition of Indian football will know that the major reasons are something else. It’s not completely cricket, money is actually being invested a lot into promoting soccer nowadays, but the major dilemma remains that the sport has not yet escalated or elevated from its position of power and money into better things for the game itself, and unless and until that part of the sport is sorted out, it’s hard to see a way past this miserable state of soccer in India. Someday maybe, two to three decades from here on, but definitely not yet, not anywhere close.
With the ever increasing popularity and dominance of the game of soccer across the globe, the number of fans from India tuning in and subscribing to foreign football matches, and even streaming them online has urged the very powerful individuals of the nation into investing millions of money into what we refer to as the INDIAN SUPER LEAGUE (ISL) today. A number of teams owned by some of the most well known celebrities and businessmen take part every year during the months of October and November for the three to four months long tournament, which is more of a league and knockout, than a league. While a league depends on points and games played itself to determine the table toppers and the relegation battle outs, a league and knockout focuses more on the winners rather than the losers, or the bottom halves of the tables. A reason for this is probably because of the fact than unlike most of the leagues around the world, or even the I-LEAGUE, which is still the dominating league in the country, and the traditional one of course, the ISL still possess a single tier, and hence they have not deemed it necessary to concentrate the tournament and its popularity into those teams which finish at the bottom half of the table after all the rounds have been played out. If it had been so, it would have been extremely necessary to demote these lower half teams into the second division. A simple yet challenging aspect they could have focused on is merging the two premier soccer leagues together. Also, even though they had previously thought of it, but the decisions they were concluding to referred to the demotion of the I-League down to the second tier of the system, promoting the ISL to the top. Thus the teams which finish at the bottom of the table will go on and play with the eastbengals and mohunbagans in the second division.
And even though this seems a decent enough idea, most of the football fanatics of this country have been following the I-league for most of their lives now. The Bengal derby, or the famous eastbengal- mohunbagan rivalry is still the most popular and the fiercest game played out at the biggest stadium in the country, the yuvabharati krirangan stadium, or simply putting it, the Salt Lake stadium. The baichung bhutias of this world, or the famous chima, or barretto, have all earned their names through the I-League. The ISL, although much more attractive, and much more decorated, is much of a money game than a soccer one. Merging the two leagues in terms of adding the two together, will probably do the country much better justice rather than putting them at such a length apart from each other. Of course, it’s easier said than done, and the AIFF needs to face a lot of challenges from both sets of bodies as well as their fans, but it’s the only way out for Indian football. Most of the talents are spurning their big chances of playing abroad and getting sucked into the fights between the governing bodies, who guarantee them salaries and government jobs in order to hold them back in their own country, and literally end their careers in the game. It’s been almost a century since India has been recognized as a decent enough footballing nation. A country of 1.32 billion people, and where soccer is so ardently followed, we haven’t been able to cluster together a group of 20-22 guys who can gather up and form a decent enough squad to compete at the very highest levels.
A very common belief and argument that the soccer fans of our country possess is that cricket being the number one sport here, it has completely or wholly engulfed the population into following it ever so blindly. And even though this argument might be to some extent true, a person who daily follows the condition of Indian football will know that the major reasons are something else. It’s not completely cricket, money is actually being invested a lot into promoting soccer nowadays, but the major dilemma remains that the sport has not yet escalated or elevated from its position of power and money into better things for the game itself, and unless and until that part of the sport is sorted out, it’s hard to see a way past this miserable state of soccer in India. Someday maybe, two to three decades from here on, but definitely not yet, not anywhere close.
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