Atletico coach Simeone likely to visit during ISL
KOLKATA: Spanish league champions Atletico Madrid plan to get coach Diego Simeone and some first-team players during the on-going Indian Super League (ISL), said Ignacio Aguillo, a club director and adviser to the CEO Miguel Angel Marin.
The club also plans to get the first team for a few games in India as part of pre-season preparations possibly next term, he said on Monday.
Aguillo said the focus going into the ISL was to get the Atletico de Kolkata squad ready for competition but after this ends, it would shift to putting plans in place for a grassroots programme in Kolkata.
If things go according to plan, it is also possible that Atletico de Kolkata would be taken on promotional tours, he said. Reports of all matches for Atletico de Kolkata would be available on Atletico Madrid’s website, said Aguillo.
The official said Fifa was wise in allowing two competitions to exist in India, the I-league being the other one.
“It is not an area where Fifa usually shows flexibility but I think they have done the right thing as far as India is concerned. The first objective is to create fans.”
Asked whether he thought that the ISL should eventually be the country’s football competition, Aguillo said it was best to let things play out on their own.
Atletico Madrid’s involvement in the ISL has got other La Liga clubs “intrigued” but Aguillo was clear about what they would do should help be sought.
“We took a calculated risk by deciding to get involved in India but football’s a complicated and competitive business and I am not sure we would like to share our experience with other clubs,” he said.
NABI COULD BE OUT FOR THREE WEEKS
MUMBAI: Mumbai City FC skipper Syed Rahim Nabi could be out of the Indian Super League for up to three weeks after the franchise confirmed on Monday that he has a contusion over his left ankle. There is a suspected partial sprain of one of the ankle ligament, according to the medical team examining Nabi. He was injured in the 39th minute of the inaugural ISL match against Atlético de Kolkata on Sunday.
Nabi is currently under a knee cast and has begun his rehabilitation with the medical team saying that he could be out for up to three weeks. KOLKATA: Barring the Kolkata derby and I-league champions Bengaluru FC’S games last term, attendances in Indian club football mirrors what the great Hollywood mogul Sam Goldwyn once said — “if people don’t want to come, you can’t stop them.” It’s early days yet but two games into the Indian Super League (ISL), it can be said that the start’s been good.
The ISL began on a Sunday night that didn’t have European club football and, of course given that the broadcasters for both are the same, no cricket involving the India team. If matches happen on schedule, there is no possibility of a clash with cricket but next weekend will Indian Gooners forego Arsenal playing Hull City for Mumbai City FC-FC Pune City, or Liverpool fans skip the game against QPR and travel to the Salt Lake stadium to watch Atletico de Kolkata host Delhi Dynamos?
Ignacio Aguillo, a board member with Atletico Madrid, said on Monday that European club football would complement the ISL, not be in conflict with it. “The on-site experience is significantly different from what you see on TV. It is a bit like a company producing a miniature version of a popular product. A football fan is not someone who just watches games involving his or her team on TV. If the product is of good quality and the environment at the stadium is good, fans will come in the ISL.”
Getting fans engaged is Indian football’s big challenge. If the ISL helps stakeholders understand that the football can comprise an afternoon or evening’s entertainment for the family, it will be a huge plus. For that to happen, toilets must be clean, ramps and stairways lit, refreshments available, the seating comfortable and security not a worry.
IN COMFORT ZONE
It is something clubs in Europe understood over 20 years ago. Indian stadia would usually rank among the least comfortable in the world but Sunday showed that the ISL organisers have understood that this needs to change. The result: a Salt Lake stadium where watching football was never this comfortable. If the ISL leaves a legacy of better stadiums, Indian football will benefit.
Like in the IPL, through superior television coverage, the ISL can also give Indian footballers greater visibility. Few followers of Indian sport would be able to name five national team players now. But with the ISL being also shown in Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and different parts of Asia, Durga Boro, Baljeet Sahni, Denzel Franco should get the kind of visibility they never had. There have been more inquires about the extent of Syed Rahim Nabi’s ankle injury than when this Mumbai City FC player represented India.
The AIFF general secretary, Kushal Das, described this competition as an adrenaline boost. But adrenaline alone can take you that far and no farther. It is not adrenaline alone that helped India improve in shooting, wrestling, boxing, badminton and tennis, to say nothing about cricket.
Well begun, therefore, is not half done here. That’ll happen if this tournament runs its initial 10-year course without the intensity flagging and with its franchises fulfilling promises of sustained grassroots development. For a country so lacking everything in football that is the minimum required to get out of the slump since winning a bronze medal in the 1970 Asian Games, a significant baby step though has been taken.