It is close to midnight of the 27th. Champions League final (football is the game under consideration) is about to begin in an hour: Barcelona vs Manchester United. Both recently champions and probably the best two club sides in the world. They said Messi vs Ronaldo, lets see what goes down. Probably the biggest match before the world cup kicks off next year. The news is full of it, sports fans everywhere must be holding their breath.
But isn't this the case every year? Now I am in India. 146 is a mere number to others, but to India its a proud ranking among footballing nations. It could be worse. Well actually it was worse back in April and May of '07 (Ranked 165) but that's beside the point. None the less, there is a renewed interest in football and most strangely among the elite and they bypass all the great games on i-league (Domestic competition) and go right ahead to Europe. I hear of all those deranged fans in West Bengal and the folks of sunny Goa who have always held pride in their football, played in their neighborhood. But for all of their professed love for the game, lets face the facts, football is tough. I know, I tried out at all my schools and colleges with limited success.
Football in India I would imagine is in fact the single largest sport played in schools as opposed to cricket. A little wiki-ing will tell you that India qualified for the '50 world cup on the back of a lot of withdrawals and again came in 4th at the '56 Olympics, 4th! Also won '51 and '61 Asian Games. I even remember reading in the papers that once footballers from Hyderabad weren't half bad. My guess is that in this period the game wasn't an elitist game. Even today football is the most accessible game in India.
European Football has been aggressively promoted to India and indeed all of Asia. It is promoted to such an extent that when I switch from an EPL match to an i-league match on TV, I find it hard to find a metaphor to describe the contrast in class. In fact last May we had Bayern Munich come down to Salt Lake Stadium to play an exhibition match against Mohan Bagan. 130,000 spectators were there and Bagan lost convincingly. The marketers know that football is such a beautiful game that people will watch it no matter who plays. But the point is to be able to create real loyalty among the fan base based on a shared identity. This is only possible when we talk of local clubs not ones that play half way arond the world.
There is hope though, cricket went from an elite colonial sport to what it is today in India regardless of all its shortcomings. With football there is less to overcome and more to gain in India if only kids are allowed to take up the sport with the knowledge that there is a livelihood there.
Meanwhile Eto'o scores for Barca 10 minutes into the game.
Interesting Reading:
But isn't this the case every year? Now I am in India. 146 is a mere number to others, but to India its a proud ranking among footballing nations. It could be worse. Well actually it was worse back in April and May of '07 (Ranked 165) but that's beside the point. None the less, there is a renewed interest in football and most strangely among the elite and they bypass all the great games on i-league (Domestic competition) and go right ahead to Europe. I hear of all those deranged fans in West Bengal and the folks of sunny Goa who have always held pride in their football, played in their neighborhood. But for all of their professed love for the game, lets face the facts, football is tough. I know, I tried out at all my schools and colleges with limited success.
Football in India I would imagine is in fact the single largest sport played in schools as opposed to cricket. A little wiki-ing will tell you that India qualified for the '50 world cup on the back of a lot of withdrawals and again came in 4th at the '56 Olympics, 4th! Also won '51 and '61 Asian Games. I even remember reading in the papers that once footballers from Hyderabad weren't half bad. My guess is that in this period the game wasn't an elitist game. Even today football is the most accessible game in India.
European Football has been aggressively promoted to India and indeed all of Asia. It is promoted to such an extent that when I switch from an EPL match to an i-league match on TV, I find it hard to find a metaphor to describe the contrast in class. In fact last May we had Bayern Munich come down to Salt Lake Stadium to play an exhibition match against Mohan Bagan. 130,000 spectators were there and Bagan lost convincingly. The marketers know that football is such a beautiful game that people will watch it no matter who plays. But the point is to be able to create real loyalty among the fan base based on a shared identity. This is only possible when we talk of local clubs not ones that play half way arond the world.
There is hope though, cricket went from an elite colonial sport to what it is today in India regardless of all its shortcomings. With football there is less to overcome and more to gain in India if only kids are allowed to take up the sport with the knowledge that there is a livelihood there.
Meanwhile Eto'o scores for Barca 10 minutes into the game.
Interesting Reading:
2 comments:
Baaaaaaaaaarcelonaaaaaaa forever ! INIESTA, xavi killed manure ....glory glory baaaarca
Even hockey (like socceer) if promoted properly, can be much interesting than cricket. But the reality is that we Indians are so cricket maniac that no matter how big the other games grow.. There are numerous cricket coaching camps for schoool going crowds but hardly can we find any centres for these games.
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