Now Time for Little bit Sports and Introducing our New Author GT <3 :)
“ India are sleeping giants of football”-Sepp blatter.
It has been almost 8 years since the then fifa president made that quote on his maiden trip to India.Since then if at all anything has hapened india has went backwards.The countries domestic league system went from a developing professional one into being a league with sub standard telecast and not even a regular 2nd division.
It has been almost 8 years since the then fifa president made that quote on his maiden trip to India.Since then if at all anything has hapened india has went backwards.The countries domestic league system went from a developing professional one into being a league with sub standard telecast and not even a regular 2nd division.
The most successful chapter in these years has been the ISL.The franchise based tournament set new standards in Indian football.Be it the playing standards or the broadcasting or even the glamour of the tournament it brought back the 'beautiful game ' in to public domain.But even then the fact remains that such a system with 2 premier tournaments will prove unsustainable in the long run.
To tackle this problem a merger of the two leagues has been proposed.Will it succeed?Only time will tell.Untill the actual merger takes place a variety of solutions have been suggested...like promoting the best two teams from the i league for the formation of a 10 team first division and the remaing teams from the i league constituting the 2nd division.But then the franchise cannot be relegated under their contract atleast for the initial few years.It would thus take away one most important and exciting attributes of foreign league which maintains intrest even after the title is decided.The league would become one dimensional with all teams gunning for the title.This I think would be unhealthy.Hence I feel it would be better for the AIFF to go for a complete merger among the two league and split them into two conferences like the NBA.It would be beneficial to the teams as well considering the large size of the country.It would also give more people access to football as well;ie. more players get to play and for teams like Banglore fc which are sole representatives from Karnataka, provide each region with a team to support and cheer.But it would require establishing a similar system in at least the second division as well which would require considerable financial support as well considering that the second division is organised as small tournaments in India.So this is what I am suggesting
1.Create a 16 team 1st division with north and south conferences (8+8). There will still be problems like 3 teams which are bound to be from one city, kolkata,(Atletico,Mohan Bagan and East Bengal)which would be unsustainable.The only solution would be for the current franchise to buy one of the old clubs,which is the closest indians will ever get to having classic derby of our own.I guess I can assume that 2 clubs would be sustainable in pockets like Kerala, Goa, Kolkata and the North East.The first divison can be run in similar way to ISL then and champions from a 8 team playoff could get an AFC cup berth which would be added incentive that the ISL cannot boast off.The bottom team from each conference should ideally be relegated but for attracting better business interest the league could offer a reprimand in the form of a playoff with the the champions of corresponding conference in the 2nd division.
2.Establish second and lower leagues in the same format albeit without the playoffs.
3.Establish u 17 and u 20 league with a similar format as well for promoting youngsters.
4.Promotion of such aformat could result in a short season,so for a year round offering the Durand or the Federation cup could follow a longer champions league like format extending for 3 or so months with matches during weekends to maintain interest of the public.
5.Along with these there should be reforms for helping devolopment of stadiums. (The clubs could be offered ownership following long tenancy period which would result in better maintenance of the stadiums.)Similarly players should be encouraged to sign longer contracts so that the clubs can take part in player trading,which rakes in a chunk of the revenue for foreign clubs.And care should be taken to ensure that clubs does have a marquee player to attract public interest at least during initial years.
And prime time broadcast of the league would be fundamental to its success.The tv revenue should be then shared among the clubs in a similar format to the English league, which allows a percent of income to its lower divisions.
And prime time broadcast of the league would be fundamental to its success.The tv revenue should be then shared among the clubs in a similar format to the English league, which allows a percent of income to its lower divisions.
6.A high profile friendly tournament could be organised featuring the best Indian and some European teams to promote commercial interest.(The top 4 indian teams could be the qualifiers,in that way there would be an added incentive for teams to finish at the top,since such friendlies can generate larger incomes which could be split among the involved teams based on performance.)
This is my idea towards improving Indian football.I believe such a merger would be essential in the growth of a competitive footballing team for India.
LOL :)
-GK
This is my idea towards improving Indian football.I believe such a merger would be essential in the growth of a competitive footballing team for India.
LOL :)
-GK
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