From The Times:
India football giant carries on sleeping
After a glitzy opening ceremony packed with Bollywood dancers, fireworks and a cameo appearance from the cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, a roaring crowd at the Salt Lake Stadium in Calcutta settled in for the opening match of the ISL; a tournament which sponsors hope will mark the arrival of football in India.
With 1.25 billion people — 47 per cent of them aged under 25 — it is easy to see why Sepp Blatter once described India as the sleeping giant of the game. The ISL — Indian Super League — a nine-week tournament, is the boldest attempt yet to rouse it from its slumber.
Despite the hype, however, and more than £60 million pumped in by backers such as India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, critics have been unimpressed by the ISL. “The finishing is poor, the marquee players are old, fitness levels aren’t great and neither is technique,” said Ashish Magotra, a fan and pundit.
Since Atlético de Kolkata’s 3-0 defeat by Mumbai City FC in the opening game, fans have carped about a lack of excitement — a consequence, perhaps, of roping in many ageing foreign stars in an effort to boost ratings.
Players such as Freddie Ljungberg, David James and Alessandro del Piero have lifted the game’s profile — and their own bank balances — but have done little for the pace and quality of play.
Samindra Kunti, writing in the news website Quartz India, described the football as “mediocre”. He said: “Leagues can generate fans, TV rights and sponsors but without good football and substantial investment in the grassroots, they are bound to falter.”
Crowds have fallen short of expectations. Calcutta has packed in decent numbers, but matches in Delhi and other cities have taken place in half-empty stadiums.
With plenty of razzmatazz and celebrity team owners like the Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, and corporate sponsorship, the commercial logic behind the league is obvious, and is built on the idea that a country as populous as India can support more than one big televised national sport.
Nita Ambani, Mr Ambani’s wife, says she hopes the league will catapult India into its first World Cup finals. “I hope with ISL, football gets its rightful place in Indian sports,” she said.
But Indians used to tuning in to English, Italian and Spanish league games are proving hard to please. Many complain about the fiercely commercial approach, with commentators doggedly discussing the merits of Hero motorcycles, for example, while play goes on.
There are fears too that the ISL is following a similar formula to the IPL cricket league; a hugely successful tournament that has obsessed many Indians — but has sickened others with its reputation for corruption.
A British paper like the Times is always going to be snide about a weak football country (and former imperial subject) like India.
It's also always easy to find nay-sayers, especially with a new competition.
What are people expecting?
It's only a two month league arranged at short notice and they've done pretty well in those circumstances to attract some decent foreign players (none of Ricki's foreign players are older than 33 apart from Capdevilla who apparently is playing well).
Ricki's been smart in that respect to avoid any foreign players too advanced in years even if they're not global stars - e.g. he's signed two current Zambian internationals from the current African Cup of Nations champions and Spanish striker Koke who is 31 and has mainly played in Ligue 1 (Marseilles) and the Greek Super League.
Crowds have in fact been so far superior to the regular Indian national league, the I-League, that it's quite incredible.
The I-League averaged crowds of just 5618 last season. Mumbai FC (the worst supported) averaged just 321.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013%E2%80%9314_I-Lea...
Now Mumbai in the Super League are averaging 25,157
Average attendances so far in 2014 Indian Super League across all clubs = 25,342
Highest = 65,000
Lowest = 7517
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Indian_Super_Lea...
Ricki's NorthEast United are averaging 28,633.
I'm sure TV viewing figures are far superior too - they've even sold it overseas to Fox in Australia etc.
