Indian Super League: Beginning of a New era in Indian Football!
It was high time a well-organized
club football scenario made an entry into India, the ‘sleeping giant of world
football’ as according to Sepp Blatter, FIFA president. The existing I-League, which
is the principle club competition in our country, was failing to garnish
popularity and viewership with its current format. A change was necessary in
the football scenario in India. And then
IMG-Reliance offered to hold an IPL-style football tournament, featuring
city-based franchises and attracting celebrity owners. Football fans across the
country, including me, went crazy over this amazing development. Why wouldn’t
we?
After all, even we want to support a club which plays in a popular and lavish football league in our own country. And on 13th April, when the state of Assam was busy with Bihu preparations, the auctions for the eight city-based franchises were held. And to my surprise and excitement, our own Guwahati was one of the eight franchises. It is co-owned by none other than John Abraham and the I-League team, Shillong Lajong. Superstars including Ranbir Kapoor and Salman Khan too were part of the star-filled owners list, as well as India’s idols, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
After all, even we want to support a club which plays in a popular and lavish football league in our own country. And on 13th April, when the state of Assam was busy with Bihu preparations, the auctions for the eight city-based franchises were held. And to my surprise and excitement, our own Guwahati was one of the eight franchises. It is co-owned by none other than John Abraham and the I-League team, Shillong Lajong. Superstars including Ranbir Kapoor and Salman Khan too were part of the star-filled owners list, as well as India’s idols, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
The ISL is a stepping stone to
football fiesta in India. It cannot be said up to which level it would spread
the popularity and craziness of football in India, but it sure has the fans
over the moon. And yet for years being a
die-hard Manchester United fan, I too would be rooting for a football club,
based in my own city, Guwahati. And the prospect of having a club-competition
as popular as the IPL would be a real heart pumping experience for football
fans. No other sports news had made such an impact within me as it did on
hearing the news on ISL. And when it does start, it would be the beginning of a
new era of football in India. And I do really hope this football league can be
boasted upon within the elite European leagues. And so that one day I can
proudly say: “The Indian Super League is similar to the Barclays Premier
League!!” Too much to ask for? Well, let’s hope for the best.
.jpg)
Here are the eight franchises and
their owners:
Bangalore: Sun Group
Delhi: Den Networks
Goa: Salgaocar FC, Dempo
FC and Videocon
Guwahati: John Abraham
and Shillong Lajong
Kochi: PVP Ventures and
Sachin Tendulkar
Kolkata: Sourav Ganguly,
Harshvardhan Neota, Athletico Madrid, Sanjiv Goenka and Utsav Parekh
Mumbai: Ranbir Kapoor and
Bimal Parekh
Pune: Salman Khan, Kapil
Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan
If you want to read more about Indian football, do read this.
Till then, be happy. Respect women. Happy reading.
Comments
Post a Comment