Why Tata Group is back in Indian club football after being away for 30 years

The ISL changed the way football was presented. Now that it is a little more professional, and there is a little more promise in development of football, we stepped in.

KOLKATA: A new football league has made the Tata Group change its policy of staying away from the commercial aspect of sport to doing the opposite. And up investment in football from around ~1.7 crore annually on the Tata Football Academy (TFA) to nearly ~50 crore this year.

“The ISL (Indian Super League) provides the kind of platform that was not there. And it has got better over three years. So, what we did not do earlier seemed right now,” Sunil Bhaskaran, vice-president corporate services, told Hindustan Times in Jamshedpur recently.

So, nearly three decades after the football team of the Tata Sports Club was disbanded — one which was runners-up in the Rovers Cup thrice and had Olympian SS Narayanan, former India captain Shabbir Ali and Pradip Choudhury among others on its roster — in Bombay, Jamshedpur FC (JFC) will debut in the Indian Super League (ISL) from a city where the group’s presence can’t be missed.

In that time, the Tatas created a residential football academy, one that in 30 years has given India teams 137 players. But even after winning the second division of the National Football League in 2005-06, the Tata Football Academy (TFA) opted out of the top tier the next season. That is because club football was not their thing, grooming players was.

‘WIN-WIN FOR BOTH’

Through JFC they will be doing a lot more. The ISL, said Mukul Choudhari, the Tatas’ chief of sports excellence centres, came at a time when football in India was losing audience.

“It (the ISL) changed the way football was presented. Now that it is a little more professional, little more organised and there is a little more promise in development of football in a commercial manner, we stepped in,” said Choudhari at his office in TFA.

“I think it is a win-win for both. The league got a credible corporate who has been in sports for long. (There are 40 Dronacharyas and 12 Padma Shri winners from sports with the group). And we realised the need to invest, participate and help football grow,” said Choudhari.

The investment would be around ~30 crore annually, said Choudhari. Bhaskaran said JFC hired international advisory firm Deloitte for advice.

Birthing JFC also means that the role of the TFA, now with 40 cadets below 18, would change. Bhaskaran spoke of a five-year plan that would include playing in the I-league 2nd division and creating a system that spots children in Jamshedpur and adjoining areas from when they are eight and groom them for JFC with the TFA being part of the chain.

“So far, it was somewhat halfbaked,” he said.

It will also mean a TFA tie-up with a European club and without sharing names, Bhaskaran said the response has been positive from those he visited so far. He said it would make sense for a partnership in a country the group has a presence.

“All that would be part of the Tatas’ bid to create a successful, world class football team out of Jamshedpur,” said Bhaskaran. One that would encompass digital experience created by Tata Consultancy Services with tribal drum rolls at home games at JFC’S own stadium.

The ISL (Indian Super League) provides the kind of platform that was not there. And it has got better over three years. So, what we did not do earlier seemed right now.

SUNIL BHASKARAN, Tata official