A different ball game
With the announcement of Premier League Soccer, can Indian football enter a new era? Vaibhav Sharma checks out

Legendary former Barcelona player Edgar Davids may be part of the new league

How many times have we heard the arguments as to why the Indian football is not a force to reckon with? People have come up with the most inane reasons on why our footballers are not up to the mark. And yet, we harbour dreams of seeing our less-privileged and even lesser-known ‘Men in Blue’ play at the biggest stage of all, the FIFA World Cup!

There is no harm in dreaming — to play alongside the likes of England, Spain, Brazil and Italy. But it has no sound logic or reason behind it! And to make this dream come true, we have not really given much thought to it — whether we are well prepared, organised or capable of pushing for its realisation.

Though we spend hours watching cricket, we always crib about how much of cricket is forced upon us! A major reason is that it is a watchable game mainly because of its star value — along side a Yuvraj Singh; it is easier to remember a Rahul Sharma. The market forces have a key role behind this star value, creating household names out of these players.

Indian football, with all due respect to Baichung Bhutia, needs bigger stars. It needs players, who are, for all practical purposes, the ‘poster boys’ of the sport.

With this in mind, the Indian Football Association (IFA-West Bengal) has recently announced a league called Premier League Soccer (PLS), on the lines of the IPL. It will have franchises, big money and most important, the star players.

According to statements by the IFA, "Initially, the PLS will have six franchises, to be chosen through competitive bidding for 10 years, with successful bidders paying a yearly franchise fee.

"Only limited companies with a minimum net worth of Rs 10 crore can bid for a licence. The six franchise towns will be Kolkata, Howrah, Barasat, Asansol, Midnapore and Siliguri.

"Each team will have an icon player and three quality overseas players. The icon player will be an overseas player of repute, preferably someone who has represented his country in international matches. Each team can sign a maximum of 25 players.

"The team composition will have a maximum of three overseas players, one overseas player of Asian origin; minimum five catchment players; minimum six players of U-21 years and maximum 10 from anywhere in India."

This concept is totally alien to Indian football. While it is limited to only West Bengal, it will find a much bigger audience, and the reasons are same as above, presence of football stars.

The organisers have roped in the Celebrity Management Group for the event, which is in touch with legendary former Netherlands and Barcelona player Edgar Davids and ex-Arsenal man and Japanese international Junichi Inamoto.

These two might be past their prime, but they are a league above the best foreign recruits playing in the I-League at present. These are men who have played for clubs like Inter Milan, Juventus, Arsenal, Barcelona, West Bromwich Albion, to name a few. They may not be able to bring out the ‘hidden talent’ of an Indian player, but they sure can bring the eyeballs required to make this event marketable.

The existing national league, the ONGC I-League, has done well enough to go on for so long, and has also undergone an expansion over the last season, but it clearly has not found any feet in marketing circles. People do not wish to invest in the league, as they don’t expect any returns. A television company that had the broadcast rights, never really thought it important to televise games live.

The reasons are many, and the most important, as mentioned earlier is, the lack of stars. The second major reason is the poor infrastructure. For a country that is notorious for its mismanagement of sports infrastructure, how we treat our existing soccer stadiums really is mindboggling. From weddings, to political rallies, to small-time concerts and shows`85 you name it and the grounds have been used for every event not connected with the game.

The PLS has the ability to change all that. It has the definite scope to make India realise what the game looks like when the stars are playing in it. Watching someone Diego Maradona wave at crowds at the Salt Lake Stadium, being cheered by lakhs of fans is a different experience altogether. Only a game of quality will bring the crowds in.

India’s love affair with cricket is not limited to just individuals. Of course, a Sachin or a Dhoni makes a big difference. But the BCCI, over the years, has earned the money and learnt the art of pampering the crowds. The IPL, despite an overdose of cricket, still pulls people because the crowd watches the game in a movie-like scenario, has fun, and walks back home satisfied, having got value for their money.

Football has all ingredients for the sport to be a big hit, all it needs is a master chef to put it together and serve it with some pomp. While the PLS might not, in itself, lift the standards of the game, but it can definitely show the All-India Football Federation, what the game needs. If the PLS, which starts at a smaller scale, can do what its organisers believe it can, it will cause a revolution like never before.