Premier League Soccer India: A ray of hope for Indian soccer

I write this article when there is a lot of hope in the Indian football arena and a little bit of cynicism about this new tournament. However, one thing that everyone has to agree is that this initiative has generated a lot of interest in the international media.

The organizers have really played their cards well, they have packaged this tournament as a spin off from the hugely successful Indian Premier League which was organized by the BCCI amid much fan fare and media support. Even, the nomenclature of the tournament has been done very smartly. It borrows all the initials of Indian Premier League and adds a soccer at the end of it. Needless to say this plus the name of the erstwhile soccer geniuses has generated a lot of interest in the international media.

However, the disappointing part is that Indian media barring a few has been very stingy in giving coverage to this initiative but this will change as soon as players like Hernan Crespo, Fabio Cannavaro and Robert Pires take to the field. These players have done enough in their footballing lives, for the fans to make a beeline for them, and these same fans, who are also media consumers will force the national media to sit up and take notice and devote some space generously for this tournament.

Now let us come to the sucess of Premier League soccer and its impact or probable fall out on the Indian footy scene. One can safely say that Indian football has been in a state of inertia for decades, AIFF might have done a lot but it has not produced any commendable results. This coupled with the growing interest in cricket has led to the downfall of Indian football.

Pub going and beer guzzling public support the teams from Manchester as if they were born there but will throw up or pass out if they have to support a team from Howrah or Panjim. They can’t be blamed because the gulf in the quality of the matches is perhaps equal to the distance between the places. Premier League soccer aims to bridge this divide, they want to make a dent in EPL viewership and attract the audience to Premier League Soccer as the foreign stars will now be gracing these local sides with their presence.

The best part about Premier League Soccer is that young and relatively unknown band of players will rub their shoulders with world class players and earn decent amount of money to make two ends meet. This will make soccer viable as a career in life and will attract fresh talent. This will make tomorrow Bhaichungs more acceptable to the creme da la creme of the society in general and sports fraternity in particular.

The tournament can also provide fresh talent to I league which has been struggling ever since its inception, it can give confidence to the Indians that they can also play the worlds’ most beautiful game. This is because most of our generation hasn’t been exposed to the exploits of the team that did well at the international level.

The tournament also provides an opportunity to the corporate and the institutional investor to put in much required money in football, they would have otherwise been reluctant to put in money in the clubs, which are run as personal fiefdoms and getting a return on investment from these clubs would otherwise be a laborious task.

I am hopeful that the Premier League soccer will be prove to be a catalyst to the struggling Indian football scene or at least break the state of inertia.