FINAL THIRD

Some of the more offbeat stories from the wonderful world of football

Nov 30 – Dec 6

November 30, 1935; George Bowater scores for Burton Albion against York City in the FA Cup, the previous season he was aYork City player and had scored v Burton Albion in the same competition. December 1, 1984: Oxford chairman Robert Maxwell needed to get home quickly after watching his side’s 2-0 defeat at Notts County so chartered a helicopter landing at Oxford’s Manor Ground, using the floodlights as landing lights.

From John Helm in India

Here’s a trivia question: Which is the fifth best supported league in the world? Holland, Russia, Portugal, even Japan maybe? No, the answer is the Hero Indian Super League.

In its inaugural season, the ISL has been a whopping success with the eight franchised teams pulling in average crowds of more than 25,000 with a high of 70,000 for Atletico de Kolkata v Mumbai City and 57,000 for Kerala Blasters v Kolkata.

The fanaticism of the followers in some cities rivals that in Istanbul and Buenos Aires and it is all because of a model that could be copied elsewhere in the world.

Each club is co-owned by Bollywood stars, international cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and media moguls and entrepreneurs. The fans turn up to see the stars as much as the footballers.

They don’t disappoint, whipping up a frenzy, taking part in penalty shoot-outs and bringing along other super star names to soak up the experience.

As for the players they are split into three groups, marquee, international and domestic.

Every team has to include at least five Indians, the idea that they