Interest in Dempo: Can Shah Rukh Khan save the football business in India?

June 10, 2012

Sharukh_Football_Craze

Actually, our association with football has long played out like a match that promised much but displayed only flashes of brilliance.

A brilliant moment would be the inaugural Premier League Soccer in Kolkata last year, but soon after a setback, much like an ugly tackle that breaks the rhythm of play, would arrive in the form of a free fall in rankings. Khan's entry might restore parity to Indian football, say experts.

The reason is that the business of football in India is in a shambles. In the past two years, two clubs - JCT FC and Mahindra United - were disbanded after they became commercially unviable. Incumbents are not faring any better - participants in the I-League, the top-tier Indian club format, are not making money.

Shrinivas Dempo, chairman of the Dempo Group of Companies, says no club in India is even close to a break-even.

Liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya's UB Group is said to be having second thoughts about sponsoring two Kolkata clubs, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel, which once harboured ambitions to develop football in India, is today promoting the game in Africa.

Football


*UB is principal sponsor of Mohun Bagan and East bengal, not a promoter All these teams participate in the I-League, the top-tier club format in India

Poor Business

Owners are still keeping their clubs afloat, but with minimal returns and rising costs, (see Costs of Running an I-League Team) they might as well be investing in a government welfare scheme where the money doesn't reach the needy, according to Prashant Singh, director, Octagon, a sports and entertainment marketing company.


Football__ratio

Former India captain Baichung Bhutia had earlier said more clubs will meet the fate of Mahindra United and JCT unless the All India Football Federation, the game's governing body in India, finds ways to make them better commercial entities. He said the absence of a fanbase was the undoing of those clubs.

On both counts, Bhutia was spot on. India is watching football alright, but it is the foreign kind. Tam research says only 7.8 million watched I-League on TV compared with the 25.8 million who followed the English Premier League in the last season.

The difference is because Indian football is football in slow motion, according to Singh, partly because matches are played on grounds with blades of grass that are 6-8 inches high.

In some I-League matches last season, the turnout at stadia was as low as 50, again a commentary on the quality of the game in India. The low attendance is a big blow to clubs, given that gate revenues form a lion's share of their paltry revenues.

Most clubs are hardly run as commercial enterprises. Unlike in the West, no club in India owns a stadium. Few are ready to host matches. Clearly, the culture of football clubs as they exist overseas is missing in India. Clubs around the world feed their national teams with players. It is the opposite in India.

One reason why JCT and Mahindra United folded was their reluctance to accept sponsorship, according to a person familiar with the matter. Representatives of the groups were unavailable for comment.


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News Network
March 2,2020

Mar 2: Indian captain Virat Kohli was left frustrated and deflated as New Zealand won the second Test inside three days in Christchurch on Monday to sweep the series.

India started the day at 90 for six and were all out for 124, before New Zealand chased down the required 132 to win for the loss of three wickets in 36 overs.

It ended a disappointing tour for India and Kohli as New Zealand, who won the first Test by 10 wickets early on day four, wrapped up the series with ease.

New Zealand are now unbeaten in their last 13 home Tests, winning nine of them, and in the past decade their record as hosts is played 39, won 20, drawn 13 and lost five.

In the latest series, on traditional New Zealand green wickets, India managed scores of 165, 191, 242 and 124, reflecting the low contributions from Kohli of 2, 19, 3 and 14.

Kohli came to New Zealand as the world's top Test batsman and oozing charm as he described New Zealand as the “nice guys” of cricket.

But during the series he lost his top ranking to Australian Steve Smith and when Kane Williamson went for three in the first innings of the second Test the pressure showed when he gave the New Zealand skipper a very animated send-off.

There was further evidence of frustration when he was caught on camera yelling an obscenity at a group of New Zealand supporters on Sunday.

The end came quickly for India on day three as Tim Southee and Trent Boult tormented the batsmen with their variety of inswing and outswing deliveries targeting both sides of the stumps.

Hanuma Vihari was the first to fall, in Southee's second over, when he turned a legside delivery too fine and was caught by BJ Watling diving to his left.

Five balls later and with no addition to the score, India's other overnight batsman Rishabh Pant was caught behind off a Boult delivery that swung away.

Mohammed Shami was caught for five by Tom Blundell at deep mid-wicket and Jasprit Bumrah was run out when trying to give the strike to Ravindra Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 16.

Boult and Southee signed for most of the dismissals with Boult taking four for 28 and Southee three for 36. The swing pair accounted for 25 of the 40 Indian wickets in the series.

There was enough seam and swing available for India to keep the New Zealand batsmen guessing but Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were unable to apply consistent pressure and Mohammed Shami was troubled by a sore shoulder.

New Zealand coasted through a century opening stand by Tom Latham and Blundell before losing three quick wickets.

Latham notched his 18th half-century and second of the Test before he was caught behind off Yadav for 52, Kane Williamson had a short stay for five, and Blundell went for 55.

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News Network
February 29,2020

Melbourne, Feb 29: India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on Saturday said the team management has given Shafali Verma the freedom to play her natural game, which has set the Women's T20 World Cup ablaze.

The 16-year-old announced her emergence on the global stage by becoming the second highest run getter in the ongoing tournament. She has so far scored 161 runs, hitting 18 fours and nine sixes in four matches at an astounding strike rate of 161.

On Saturday, Shafali hit a 34-ball 47 to steer India to a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka after spinner Radha Yadav produced a career-best 4/23.

"Shafali is someone who loves to play big shots, and we don't want to stop her. She should continue doing the same and she should continue enjoying her game," Harmanpreet said after the match.

India entered the semifinals with an all-win record as they led Group A with eight points from four games and the captain insisted it is important to continue the winning momentum.

"It's really important to keep the momentum when you are winning games. You really work hard, so you can't afford to lose that momentum. You can't bowl same pace and lengths on these wickets, so you need to keep rotating the bowlers."

"Today I tried to be positive and got a few boundaries. In the upcoming games I'll try to give my best," Harmanpreet said.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Atapattu rued the reprieves given by her side to Shafali in the form of two dropped catches.

"I think that score was not enough, we lost couple of chances, specially Shafali, it was hard to stop her," she said.

"Yeah, I got a good start but unfortunately got out in the 10th, would have wanted to stay in there till the 16th or the 17th over. I hope we can beat Bangladesh in our last game," she added.

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Agencies
February 20,2020

New Delhi, Feb 20: Grappler Divya Kakran on Thursday became the second Indian woman to win a gold medal at the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championship.

Divya, a bronze medallist at Asian Games 2018, earned her first gold by winning all her four bouts against Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and Japan.

Her final bout against Naruha Matsuyuki of Japan was the closest one but she managed to outclass her opponent 6-4 to seal her name on the gold medal. The 68 kg category was played in round-robin format as only five wrestlers were in the fray.

India is likely to add some more medals to its tally when Nirmala Devi, Pinki, and Sarita go out to grapple for the yellow metal in their respective weight categories.

Three-time Commonwealth championship gold medallist, Nirmala Devi (50 kg) first defeated Munkhnar Byambasuren of Mongolia in the quarterfinals by 6-4 to reach the semis.

In the semi-finals, Nirmala got the better of Dauletbike Yakhshimuratova of Uzbekistan by 10-0 and will play against 2018 Under-23 World Champion Miho Igarashi of Japan for the gold medal.

Pinki (55 kg) started her day on a winning note against Shokhida Akhmedova of Uzbekistan by 12-4 in round 3 and lost to Kana Higashikawa of Japan to enter the semis where she defeated Marina Zuyeva of Kazakistan by a score of 6-0.

Pinki will play in the gold medal bout against Dulguun Bolormaa of Mongolia.

Sarita (59 kg) will now face Battsetseg Altantsetseg of Mongolia in the gold medal bout after winning against her opponents in the qualifiers, quarterfinals and semi-final by a score of 10-0, 11-0 and 10-3, respectively.

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