Could Messi become the 'Messi-ah' of Indian football?

Kudos to team Messi playing on the Indian Soil. With the 120,000 capacity Salt Lake Stadium completely crowded with Messi fans to watch their superstar play in their own hometown, we can be proud that the sport is getting more commercialized now a days. With more Indians purchasing stocks in the European football clubs and more European counterparts venturing into India, it is a clear sign of football commercialization in India.

Can he be the catalyst to the winds of change?

But, coming back to our point, will Messi’s visit visit to India will help in promoting and developing the India football? Yes, is the answer, but only to a certain extent. There are lots of benefits that will arise out of Messi’s visit. It is a nice marketing strategy to promote and market Indian football. It will help in opening up a whole new opportunities for commercialization of football in India. More parents will be sending their children to play football.

Another drawback with the development of Indian football is the lack of the infrastructure facilities. But imagine, with the visit of Messi, the “once normal ” Salt Lake stadium is now sporting a renovated look. It’s comparable to the international standards. For information’s sake, the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, took a personal interest in modernising the stadium to international standards. To cash in on the event, hotels and restaurants in the city also made special screening arrangements over dinner.

Looking at the situation we need more Messi’s coming to India, which might see more stadiums of International standards getting developed and also generating more interest among the public to take up the game.

But, is Messi going to be the Messiah of the Indian football? It’s both yes and No. More than expecting super stars like Messi coming to India to develop India football, it should start from within ourselves. People should work with foresight rather than working on short term goals.

The need of the hour is the development of the game at the grassroots level by all the stake holders of the game. With more initiatives like Steve McMahon Football Academies (“SMFA”) by the Liverpool FC coming up in India, we will have to cross our fingers and hope that these initiatives stay in the long run.

And finally here comes my questions.

1. Is just developing one stadium to the international standards enough for the development of Indian football?
2. Would more Kolkata fans sending their children to play the game help develop the talent base through out the nation?
3. Doesn’t other cities deserve the similar matches?
4. Won’t it have been much better if the upcoming players in the Indian junior teams are given chances to play International friendlies?
5. Won’t it be much economic to develop more Stadiums and organizing International friendlies for our footballers?

My questions apart, let’s accept that it’s better to have something to promote the Indian football rather than remaining idle. What Indian football needs is not Just One Messi, but more Messi’s flying into to create wonders in the Nation. And we will be seeing more fan following for football through out the nation, if in case such similar matches happens across all the cities. We will be seeing more new stadiums being built to International standards, and more children taking up the game and finally more international friendlies happening, again which will be really useful if it can be conceptualized in such a way that the India footballers be given a chance to play against the superstars, wherein they can upgrade their game.

Once again, Kudos to team Messi for making a big change in Indian football, or atleast trying to.