Franchise rivalries add flavour to ISL
SPARKS In their fouryear history, the clubs have been able to attract massive fan following, adding spice to the action
MUMBAI: ‘Rivalries give life to football’ was Iain Hume’s observation when he was with Kerala Blasters FC (KBFC) last season. The Canadian forward, who will represent FC Pune City (PCFC) this season, had said, “It’s football! So it should have rivalries provided things don’t get personal. It’s not football if everyone is friendly with each other all the time. Football is a little bit about rivalries and banter, it’s healthy for football. Provided things are safe, it will only make the game better.”
There is no doubt that fans make a sport, their opinions and loyalties bring flavour to it.
If there were any doubts about Indian football fans’ passion being less than their cricket counterparts, then the KBFC faithful removed them.
FOOTBALL COUNTRY
Cut to November 2016: Thirtyfive thousand KBFC fans prepared to greet Marco Materazzi – the then Chennaiyin FC manager — with Zinedine Zidane masks (Materazzi was infamously headbutted by Zidane in the 2006 World Cup final).
KBFC fans were annoyed at the Italian’s involvement in a scuffle between one of their players, Kervens Belfort, and Chennaiyin’s Manuele Blasi.
“We want to send a message to the coach (Materazzi). And we thought long and hard about how we can do it as fans sitting in the stands. We want to protest against the violence but want to do it as peacefully as possible,” KBFC supporter Abdul Hadhi had told SportsCafe.
The ‘mask protest’ incident was also covered by several Europe-based publications.
Up west, Mumbai City FC (MCFC) and PCFC fans have developed rivalry due to their geographical proximity — the two clubs are based in cities just about 100km apart in Maharashtra.
There has been bad blood ever since the team’s first meeting in 2014 when Mumbai City thrashed their neighbours 5-0. Pune City, however, are ahead on overall record with five wins in eight games.
Tensions boiled over at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium (Pune City’s home ground) during their first meeting of the 2016/17 campaign.
Mumbai City fans claimed they were attacked with sharp sticks by Pune City supporters. The stadium, unlike most others in the country, doesn’t have separate sections for home and away fans.
BEYOND FOOTBALL
When two of India’s largest steel companies were allotted franchises in ISL last year — Bengaluru and Jamshedpur — a new form of rivalry was born.
The Tata Group, which owns Jamshepur FC (JFC), has set up some of the finest sporting facilities in the country such as the Tata Football Academy, the Tata Athletic Academy, the Tata Archery Academy and the
Tata Adventure Foundation. Leander Paes, Pullela Gopichand, Geet Sethi and Michael Ferreira among others have been associated with the iconic Indian company.
On the other hand, JSW Sports, that owns Bengaluru FC (BFC), owns franchises in Pro Kabaddi League and Indian Premier League and supports Olympic prospects like javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra. It recently opened an Olympic training centre — The Inspire Institute of Sport — in Vijayanagar, Karnataka.
An ISL title will only boost the image of these corporate houses that are contributing so much to sports.