Football: Why India Must Run Behind The Ball?

• Apart from the health benefits, promoting football has other facets such as improving soft power and accruing commercial benefits.
• The tourism industry will see significant improvement and India can showcase its rich historical and cultural heritage to the world.
• This will also help in employment generation. India has enough human resources to promote football in a big way but what is lacking is the intent and vision.
• India must not fail to realise that every resource spent on football will come back manifold in many forms that are extremely beneficial to the country and its citizens.

European football is coming to a decisive end of the season. Many domestic league titles are already decided and the finals of the UEFA Champions League is the last and the most important silverware yet to be decided. FC Barcelona has won the Laliga. Manchester City on the other hand is on course to win the Premier League and Bayern Munich have won their 11th consecutive title as expected. Most of the football leagues are already preparing for the next season by rebuilding and strengthening the squad for next season.

India, on the other hand, has many football fans yet no major football team or league to boast about. India introduced a new premier football league called the Indian Super League, with the blueprint of its successful franchise cricket league which is the Indian Premier League. But that has not been as successful as many had anticipated. While many franchises may be making some profits, the quality of the football is not improving. There seems to be no grand vision or plan of action in mind for the future of football in the country.

Why is it important?

Countries like China, UAE, Saudi Arabia and the United States of America are investing huge amounts of money in football. Many are buying stakes in European football clubs and others are ready to pay ransom for star players to play in their domestic competition in the twilight end of their career at least. For Example, Cristiano Ronaldo was offered reported around $213 million a year to play in Saudi Arabia. David Beckham was given permission to set up his own club as a part of the incentive to play in the United States. Qatar had to do a lot of work to host the Football world cup, including convincing the football governing to schedule the world cup calendar so that it might be humanely possible without being fatal to play football in a desert.

So, why are they investing so much time and resources in football? It is because they understand that apart from the health benefits, promoting football has other facets such as improving soft power and accruing commercial benefits. Once a proper league is established it gives a boost to the local tourism industry like none other. It gives way for talented children to showcase it and have a successful careers in the future. There are many players from South America who were able to overcome poverty because of their sheer talent. This can have an immense effect on the whole surrounding community and people around the players. Additionally, the sheer number of eyeballs all over the world around the football match will be helpful in the soft power of a nation.

Limitations of Cricket

Cricket may be the most important sport in our country, but the number of countries following it is few and even few are countries who take part seriously. Other than India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh there are few countries around the world that take it seriously. It might be anecdotal but most of the fans who visit the Cricket match in other countries are from one of these countries. This shows the limitation of the sport. In a fast-moving world, time is also a disadvantage for cricket. Even T20, the shortest format of Cricket takes around 4 hours to complete. Compared to that a football match gets over within one and a half hours, including half time break. The weather is also not a constraint for the sport, i.e. rain might not be an obstacle. In a country like India where sports infrastructure is limited, it can be played all year.

“You will understand Gita better if you read it after playing football”- Swami Vivekananda

Such strong words were spoken by Swami Vivekananda to make the people aware of the advantages of playing football. It is a great Cardiovascular exercise, which improves fitness and reduces the risk of heart problems and diabetes, which is one of the biggest problems in India. For many who hate running and gym, football might be a great and fun workout. There are many who play cricket on weekends or early morning, football may be a better alternative as the fitness requirement is more.

The tourism industry will also have significant improvement, which will help in employment generation too. Commercial value, commerce around stadiums, and hotels around stadiums all will have a huge boom in profits. Along with sports tourism, India can showcase its rich historical and cultural heritage to the world. This not only boosts the image of India on the world stage but also increases awareness about India among the common masses. The perception of the majority of common people about India is just limited to spices, Hollywood and poor slums. This might be the best way for India to showcase itself in the popular conscience of the people.

Soft power is one of the most important of this part of this. The return of the New Zealand team in the middle of a tournament for security reasons was also a major embarrassment for the country. India boycotting to play in and with Pakistan has hurt its coffers to a great degree. The India-Pakistan match which is a cash cow for Pakistan, is no longer available to it. The position of India to not even play an international tournament in Pakistan in the coming Champions Trophy has shaken Pakistan to its core. As a result of which it changed its initial hard stance to negotiate with India to play the match in any neutral venue of its choice.  This is a classic example of how in this day and age, soft power and dominance in sports can have an effect on the international political arena.

Present Situation

Not Many are even aware that FIFA had recently banned the Indian football governing body, AIFF (All India Football Federation) this year for some days because of a lack of proper governance structure and too much political interference. The head of AIFF refused to step down as President even after completing his term, leading to many complications. The ban was subsequently lifted and FIFA Under 19 women’s world cup took place in India.

This is not to say, India must discard cricket and promote football to the highest. Cricket is well-developed in India; it is time for it to concentrate on football which is played by the majority of the world. It must build a strong infrastructure necessary for its growth with a long-term view. It has enough human resources for it, all that is lacking is an intent and vision. India must not fail to realise every resource spent on this can come back manifold in many forms that are extremely beneficial.

_{(Shreyas Goutham has an M.Sc. in Psychology and serves in NIMHANS. He writes regularly on politics, society, international affairs and technology. Opinions expressed are the author’s own)}