ISL Auction - Showcasing the class divide in Indian sport

Sunil Chhetri was bought by Mumbai City FC for 1.2 crore

Waking up in the morning today, I picked up the newspaper and as usual, straight away turned to the back page without even reading the headlines. The very first article was on the ISL auction-cum-draft, stating how certain footballers turned into crorepatis and lakhpatis overnight and how some were part of intense bidding wars among franchises.

Ten players were up for auction first, followed by a draft, where the eight teams could pick up players from a pool of 112 Indian players. Many teams splashed the cash and the entire event was well reported and discussed all over social media and created a real buzz, which is a somewhat new phenomenon for football in our country.

So let’s begin with the auction. Ten players, representing the cream of the lot of players available, were up for grabs. The two players that broke the crore-rupee barrier were both Bengaluru FC stars, in the form of national team captain and striker Sunil Chhetri, who was signed by Mumbai City FC for a sum of Rs 1.20 crores and Eugeneson Lyngdoh, who was picked up by Pune City FC for Rs 1.05 crores, after a wonderful season in midfield for the Blues.

Rino Anto, the Bengaluru FC full-back, also made the headlines as his services were secured by Atletico de Kolkata, for a massive Rs 90 lakhs after starting off from a base price of Rs 17.50 lakhs!

Now, coming to the issue I want to address in this article. The total price of all the ten players sold in the auction comes to Rs 7.22 crores, an average of approximately 70 lakh rupees per player, which seems absolutely unreal in the Indian football scenario.

Footballers in our country have always been a neglected lot, as they are not even close to international standards and the situation hasn’t seen much improvement over the years.

The ISL is a step to change the status quo, and help develop India footballing talent, bring them in front of the masses and develop stadia and infrastructure. So Rs 1.20 crore for Sunil Chhetri seems a fair amount, doesn’t it? Let us compare this with the latest Indian Premier League auction, which took place in February this year and see how football lags behind cricket in our country.

The IPL auction saw the record for the most expensive player in the history of the tournament broken when an out-of-form Yuvraj Singh was snapped up by the Delhi Daredevils for a whopping sum of Rs 16 crore. Of course, it is understandable that the prices are contingent on the situations at the time of the auction, but they also represent the market value and worth of the concerned athlete to a reasonable extent.

Yuvraj’s valuation of Rs 16 crore may be excessive or may be fair, that is a separate matter. The fact that the value of our footballers is quite miniscule in comparison to cricket players is something that is genuinely appalling. Ten of the best players in our country are not valued at even half of the amount a cricketer carries. There are many factors involved in both valuations, but it shows how far behind footballers truly are when compared to cricket players.

Another point that is really disappointing is the price that Sunil Chhetri fetched in the auction. Starting from a base price of Rs 80 lakh, Chhetri saw just a 50% increase to the same while players like Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Seityasen Singh and Rino Anto multiplied their base prices manifold.

He was part of a bidding contest between only two teams – the Delhi Dynamos and Mumbai City FC, who signed him for Rs 1.20 crores, and what was expected to be the most competitive contest in the auction, fizzled out quite anticlimactically. Even Ranbir Kapoor was surprised to pick the Indian skipper up at such a cut-price, and Chhetri was quoted as saying, "I have played highest level of football for the last 13 years and fortunately I have enough money. I am not disappointed as money is not my priority."

Money may not be Chhetri’s priority, but it is quite saddening to see India’s captain and record goalscorer being sold for a low amount. He is the best footballer India has produced in the current generation and at the age of 30, is at the peak of his game. He is India’s best player by a country mile and is the only Indian player who can boast of a CV that consists of multiple international clubs.

After a series of disappointments due to visa and work permit issues that prevented him to play in England, he has still managed to bounce back and has almost single-handedly won games for India, as he scored both goals in India’s 2-0 aggregate win vs Nepal, and also scored two truly world class goals in the recent 2-1 losses to Oman and Guam.

And from a quick look at the 2015 IPL auction list, you can see youngsters, who have never even played for the national side, like KC Cariappa and Shreyas Iyer command much higher prices than Chhetri (Rs 2.40 crore and Rs 2.60 crore respectively). Even dwindling stars, who are well past their peak such as Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan, were picked up at prices much much higher than what India’s best football player was bought for.

To conclude, the difference in prices between India’s premier footballer and some of its ageing cricketers is a clear indicator of how far footballers are behind their cricketing counterparts. One can only hope that concepts like the Indian Super League will help raise footballing abilities, marketability and public recognition of our footballing stars, and we see India heading upwards in the FIFA rankings and on the football world map. So come on India, let’s football!

This article has been brought to you by North Campus Football League, a one-of-a-kind initiative by students from Delhi University. To know more, visit our website at www.ncfl.in.