United Sikkim FC rope in Ranbir Kapoor as brand ambassador

Ranbir Kapoor

United Sikkim Football Club hasn’t had a great run in the 2012-13 I-League football tournament. The I-League debutants have cut a disappointing figure in the ongoing league after showing promise at the start of the season.

The on-field happenings may not bring much cheer to their supporters, but United Sikkim received a leg-up when it signed Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor as its brand ambassador.

It is learnt that Baichung Bhutia (one of the co-owners of the club) used his PR skills and goodwill to bring the Bollywood heartthrob to the club’s fold.

“We are proud to unveil Ranbir Kapoor as our brand ambassador. We have known each other for quite sometime. He is a keen follower of football,” Bhutia said. “I approached him with the proposal of getting associated with United Sikkim after the charity football match involving Indian cricketers and actors in New Delhi last Saturday. And he accepted it.”

The I-League novices made a lot of people sit up and take notice of them when they sneaked past formidable Goan outfit Salgaocar 3-2 in their debut match in front of their home fans at the Paljor Stadium in Gangtok.

The Snow Lions showed in no uncertain terms that their hard-fought victory over Salgaocar was no flash in the pan.

They battled hard against strong opponents like Kingfisher East Bengal and reigning champions Dempo Sports Club, and lost to them narrowly 0-1 and 1-2 respectively in their own backyard.

The performance of the Sikkimese boys in the first three matches underlined the likely prospect of them being one of the surprise packages of the 2012-13 I-league.

But they only flattered to deceive as they went on to lose ten matches before registering an impressive 5-0 romp over Air India – the triumph was the only one after the league opening win against Salgaocar.

It’s a never comfort zone for any team to be a debutant in the I-League as they run the danger of being the ‘whipping boys’ of the tournament.

And the club – co-owned by former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia – has learnt it the hard way.

Bhaichung Bhutia

The Snow Lions were subjected to a 1-10 pounding by big-spending Prayag United in an away game, which saw star Nigerian marksman Ranty Martins slam five goals – the 10-1 winning margin was the second biggest victory margin in I-League history after Dempo larruped Air India 14-0 in the 2010-11 season.

Incidentally, Ranty Martins turning out for Dempo then, scored a double hat-trick.

United Sikkim were handed another big defeat by Dempo, who slammed seven past them with another Nigerian Koko Sakibo scoring a hat-trick.

With the team languishing in the 13th position behind bottom-placed Mohun Bagan with 15 points from 22 matches, United Sikkim seems to have undid all the good work initiated at the start of the league.

It may be worth recalling that Ranbir Kapoor was named the brand ambassador of Spanish giants Barcelona FC in October 2011.

There was earlier talk of a likely tie-up between Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and Dempo SC, one of India’s most successful football clubs but nothing seems to have materialized so far.