The Indian Dream (Football)

I came across this write-up and could not resist but react.

http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/3294/the-indian-dream/2010/06/20/1985857/the-indian-dream-dont-blame-cricket-blame-y#comments


I would say it is the fault of the Indian media. They give more importance to what makeup Katrina is wearing or what bikini Bipasha is endorsing .... The media never reported Dempo winning the I-league or had day long discussion on I-league with Mandira Bedi wearing the sexiest saree available and repeat this telecast for days together..... The media made IPL the way it is. We do not see large columns or catchy taglines in newspapers about football. Or in a sense I would say ... since fball is smooth sailing ship in India which noone boards just because there is no money involved. Or we see no controversies surrounding fball with politicians or glamorous people from bollV getting involved into fball ... or Shilpa Shetty dating an Indian fball star or owning a fball club ..... The best an Indian player can do outside India is play for Kansas city (might not be even compete with the fourth league teams in any european league)

In India fball is taking a turn, dont blame others for not knowing the fball players in Indian team... why the hell should we know the players in Indian team? They never play the best fball.... I watch Sachin not because he is called God of Cricket, I watch Sachin playing because he plays with such grace that we can learn form him.... Watch the smaller leagues, 5 a side tourneys and all... u'll get the feel of fball in India. fball is improving in India just because of the impression of UCL and EPL on the youth. We watch these great teams play and learn from them. Do not tell me that Man Utd is a overrated club in India. It is the 1999 trebble that generated the interest of people watching EPL and UCL in India. More than 50% of youth in India love Rooney playing for Man Utd (even the chev fans or the scousers agree that Rooney is a great player though they usually accept the fact with some negative content, he is just a bully) ... Most ppl only know Beckham or Cristiano Ronaldo, why ?? They have a lot of presence in the media than any other players in the world. Very few youth watch the Spanish league and watch Messi play in the Spanish league. Most of them watch Messi playing only in UCL. Why? It is just because EPL and UCL has more presence in the Indian Media (ESPN and STAR SPORTS atleast) than Spanish league or Bundesliga or in fact there is noone watchin the Copa American leagues just because it has no presence in the Indian Media... No one cares who won the Copa campionship. The endorsements and the money that ESPN and STAR SPORTS get for showing EPL and UCL (Ten Sports) is what made fball more presentable to Indians and thus we begn to atleast watch fball....

I remember watching ONGC Nehru cup when I was in 5th grade or so when the final was played between India and Pakistan (it was the only reason I was watching the match) I was amazed by the passion of Indian fball players. It is then I started respecting fball. The Indian players were playing with such passion that noone was ready to get substituted. In a way this is lame. It shows the weakness of the coach or manager. But the Indian captain sacrificed himself for the sub. And finally India won. I was elated by the win. Start having more such matches. Have India Pak play more matches in a league. Let the passion spread ... atleast India vs Pak will attract the Media. The fball players will have their names printed on our TV screens, let them get some fame.

I remember that Bayern Munich played a exhibition match against Mohan Bagan at the Salt Lake stadium in West Bengal and it got some media cover just because it was Oliver Kahn's last game before retirement. I remember that the Salt lake stadium was packed with more than 1 LAKH AND 20 THOUSAND spectators. Yes, for the fball noobs in India, the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata stands second in the world in terms of capacity. It is in the league of May Day Stadium(North Korea), Camp Nou (Barcelona), Estadio stadium (Mexico), Soccer city stadium (SA) and Wembley (ENG).

Has anyone from India other than the ppl in Kolkata cared for the biggest derby of Indian fball? West Bengal vs Mohan Bagan. The passion in Kolkata is so high that Kolkata witnessed riots concerning a controversial decision by the referee.

The effect of media is not hard to recognize. Just hint about Lakers or introduce Kobe Bryant in the after dinner talk and most of the Indians who went to USA will start on it at length, "Lakers got their sweet revenge, didn they? There aint no sport greater than basketball … ". Or an insinuation to Super Bowl will make u suffer the long ardent talk about American fball. An Indian watching American fball for the first time is surprised to know that catching the fball is not “hand balll” in America and to watch the same person getting emotional about Super Bowl is something special. The media does play a very important role to guide our interests.

I know a player of Indian origin ... he plays for Atheletico Madrid, used to play for Sunderland ... "Michael Chopra". Some ppl say he makes India proud. I say, he feels nothing for Indians being proud of him. He is of Indian origin but not Indian. Did India made him the player he is today ? No, it is his own determination, hard work and instincts that made him the player he is today.

A big finger (in fact a "moving finger", fans of Dr. Sheldon Cooper would understand) to whoever says that we do not respect Indian fball. We are Indian fball, we are the hoi polloi of Indian fball. It doesn’t matter which league we ardently follow or which club we support or the colors we wear, the fact that fball is not in Indian blood or was never so cant be wiped off. We watch good fball and learn to paly good fball. Let us take the wrong turn if you feel so. I can’t just pick up a team from the I-League and start following it. After all why should I? Just for the sake of it ??? Let us say that I follow Pune FC just because I have been in Pune for more than 6 years. But the fact remains, I do not give a shit if they lose, I do not get goosebumps when PFC scores in injury time or PFC draws against Mohan Bagan. It is about time fball in India has to revolutionize. It cannot be done by encouraging people to pick any team form a list and hope they ardently follow it. VJ Mallya invested 8 crores in Indian fball (the Indian colors endorsed Kingfisher for some time) and to what result....nothing? At least I cannot say that Suni Chhetri or Baichun Bhutia is my role model.