With the recent transformation of the TV coverage market, especially in the sports sector, a lot of previously ignored sports are getting top billing. Kabaddi has successfully permeated the Indian household with the successful World Cup campaign, futsal made its prime time debut on Indian TV this summer and we now have an annual 'football' festival that goes hand in glove with the Indian Premier League.
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The ISL has settled down into a comfortable rhythm and, while there have been criticisms about the commercialization of the game, there is no doubt that football is now a much bigger part of the Indian zeitgeist than it was, even 5 years ago. With that in mind, here are a few reasons why the current season of ISL is better than its previous iterations.
#1 Marquee signings
When the ISL was launched in 2014, understandably, many of the names announced as marquee signings were former legends of the game. Nicolas Anelka, Robert Pires, Alessandro Del Piero featured in varying capacities and there were rumours of Ronaldinho being appealed to as well.
However, these former stars who had retired from the game, did not match up to the understandably tall order of fitness required to compete in the ISL: even though the gameplay was not at the European level, the humidity and frequency of the games made it so that the veterans of the sport were reduced to a peripheral role within their clubs.
This season, a majority of the marquee players have been tested in the subcontinental conditions and are well-poised to make a more vital on-field contribution. Hélder Postiga and Lúcio are continuing marquee players from 2015, John Arne Riise, Didier Zokora and Florent Malouda have played in the ISL previous to being announced as marquee players, and Diego Forlán, Mohamed Sissoko and Aaron Hughes have played in the European top-flight for a variety of clubs for the majority of their careers. At the ages of 37, 31 and 36 respectively they are definitely still able to move about on the field and contribute their wealth of experience to their squads.
#2 Tie-up with Sportradar Integrity Services
In a country unfortunately riddled with corruption, and even more unfortunately that corruption being prevalent in sports, the decision by the ISL to partner with Sportradar Integrity Services means that the ISL is one step ahead of the IPL, which was marred by allegations of match-fixing and betting by club owners.
It will go a long way to promote the integrity of the sport in the country and lead to a cleaner, healthier spectacle. More oversight like this in other sports should be the norm and India as a country should take this decision by the ISL as a leading example of promoting well-maintained and honest tournaments.
#3 Closer matches
At roughly the midpoint of the regular season, we are at a stage where most teams are within a win or two of making it into the semi-finals. No team is dominating at the top and all the matches have an aura of unpredictability about them: any team can win any match (perhaps with the exception of FC Goa this season).
The fact that the largest margin of victory, both at home and away, has been 2 goals (until last night’s hammering of Chennayin FC) speaks to how balanced the league is. Also, many draws usually spell boredom but in the ISL, quite a few draws have been achieved with both sides getting on the score sheet.
The 3-3 draw between Delhi Dynamos and Mumbai City FC has achieved ‘classic’ status in India and will be talked about for years to come, both by fans of either team and lovers of the league.
#4 Better gameplay
A large part of the rationale behind launching ISL with such fanfare was that it would provide a platform for domestic talent to nurture their skills and compete in a league which showcased the potential of India’s professional athletes.
In the first season, players committed many errors and teams were generally quite conservative in their tactical strategies. However, with more experience of facing each other, teams are now comfortable trying out new and creative strategies which are high-risk, high-reward - just the perfect way to entice the audience.
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Although ISL 3 has averaged 2 goals per game (as of 9 November) as opposed to more than 3 goals per game in 2015, the exquisite build-up to those goals has made them more rewarding to watch. A lot of varied styles of play are also evolving and teams are not just playing one-dimensional football but instead developing two or three distinct styles of play.
#5 Better infrastructure
Although it is difficult to measure exactly how much the infrastructure has improved season-over-season (this tends to be measured over longer periods of time), a very key development in the right direction has taken place - Mumbai City FC’s home ground is now the Mumbai Football Arena as opposed to the DY Patil Stadium.
Even though the capacity has reduced, this shift from a primarily cricket-hosting venue to a stadium built specifically for football means that there will be more opportunities to improve the playing surface, drainage systems, floodlight infrastructure and even possibly build practice fields adjacent to the main stadium.
To play a sport in the venue built for that sport psychologically is very important in the bigger picture - it points to a self-sustainability of the commercial aspects of the league and football in India. The trade-off has paid off and a larger percentage of the stadium is now filled in Mumbai’s home games, which has made the atmosphere a much more lively one.
