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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Agencies
February 4,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 4: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena guided India to a comfortable ten wickets win over Pakistan in the ICC U19 World Cup semifinal at Senwes Park on Tuesday and progressed to the final of the tournament.

Chasing 173, Indian openers Jaiswal and Saxena played cautiously and stitched an unbeaten partnership of 176 runs.

The duo built the highest opening partnership of the tournament's history. Jaiswal, the left-handed batsman, scored his maiden century of the tournament as he amassed unbeaten 105 runs studded with eight fours and four sixes.

Saxena scored 59* off 99 balls including six fours. India chased down the total in 35.2 overs. This is the first time in the history of the U19 World Cup that a team won a knockout match by ten wickets.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.

Opener Haider Ali and skipper Rohail Nazir's half-centuries guided the side to a respectable total of 172. Ali played a knock of 56 runs while Nazir accumulated 62 runs including six boundaries.

Pakistan did not have a good start as they lost Mohammad Hurair (4) in the second over. Fahad Munir, came to bat at number three, failed to score a single run and was departed by Ravi Bishnoi on a duck in ninth over.

Apart from Ali and Nazir, Mohammad Haris was the only batsman to score runs in double digits. He played an innings of 21 runs off 15 balls. Indian bowlers showed a spirited performance as they bowled out arch-rival in 43.1 overs.

Pacers Karthik Tyagi and Sushant Mishra bagged two and three wickets respectively. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi clinched two scalps and conceded 46 runs in his ten overs.

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News Network
May 29,2020

Kolkata, May 29: Former skipper Kumar Sangakkara believes missing Angelo Mathews due to an injury hurt Sri Lanka badly in the summit clash of the 2011 World Cup, which hosts India won after a gap of 28 years.

Having played a key role in their thrilling semifinal win against New Zealand, Mathews was forced out of the final against India at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium by a quadriceps muscle injury.

Reflecting on the six-wicket loss to India, the former Sri Lankan captain said Mathews' injury forced him to opt for a 6-5 combination and was also the reason behind his decision to bat first after winning the toss.

"In that WC final, that's the biggest thing I look back and think...You can talk about drop catches and all of that happens. But the composition of the side and the fact that we were forced to make the change was to me the turning point," Sangakkara said in the latest episode of Instagram series 'Reminisce with Ash' hosted by India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Mahela Jayawardene's unbeaten 103 went in vain as India hunted down 275 with Gautam Gambhir setting up the chase with a 97-run knock before skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni finished off in style, smashing Nuwan Kulasekara for the winning six in his unbeaten 91.

"But for 100 per cent, if Angelo (Mathews) had been fit, I know for sure we would have gone for chase... I'm not sure whether the result would have changed. That balance of team that Mathews would give at seven really was a bonus," the former wicketkeeper batsman said

"If you take our entire campaign, whatever we did Mathews' overs and his ability to bat with the tail and read situations was an incredible bonus to us. He was a young chap who came into the side and from day one he could read situations. It's just instinct, how to up the rate, how to control the bowler, when to accelerate."

During the conversation, Ashwin also asked him about the controversial toss when the coin was flipped twice amid the cacophony of the Wankhede and eventually Sangakkara elected to bat.

"The was crowd was huge. It never happens in Sri Lanka. Once I had this at Eden Gardens when I could not talk to the first slip and then of course at the Wankhede. I remember calling on the toss then Mahi wasn't sure and said did you call tail and I said no I called head.

"The match referee actually said I won the toss, Mahi said he did not. There was a little bit of confusion there and Mahi said let's have another toss of the coin and heads went up again," he said.

"I am not sure whether it was luck that I won. I believe probably India might have batted if I had lost."

The loss prolonged Sri Lanka's wait for another world title as yet again the 1996 champions failed in the final hurdle.

"Whether we win or lose, we have this equilibrium on how to take a win or loss. The smile hides a huge amount of sadness, of disappointment, of thinking of 20 million people back in Sri Lanka who had been waiting for this for so long, since 1996.

"We had an opportunity in 2011, opportunity in 2007, then T20 opportunities in 2009 and 2012," Sangakkara said.

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News Network
July 12,2020

New Delhi, Jul 12: Former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to do away with 'umpire's call' whenever a team opts for a review regarding a leg-before wicket (LBW) decision.

The Master Blaster has also said that a batsman should be given out if the ball is hitting the stumps.

Whether more than 50 per cent of the ball is hitting the stumps or not should not be matter, he further stated.

"What per cent of the ball hits the stumps doesn't matter, if DRS shows us that the ball is hitting the stumps, it should be given out, regardless of the on-field call," Tendulkar tweeted.

With this tweet, the former India batsman also shared a video, in which he has a discussion with Brian Lara regarding the working of DRS.
"One thing I don't agree with, with the ICC, is the DRS they have been using for quite some time. It is the LBW decision where more than 50 per cent of the ball must be hitting the stumps for the on-field decision to be overturned," Tendulkar said in the video.

"The only reason they (the batsman or the bowler) have gone upstairs is that they are unhappy with the on-field decision, so when the decision goes to the third umpire, let the technology take over, just like in tennis, it's either in or out, there's nothing in between," he added.

This call for doing away with umpire's call has been recommended by many former players.
Whenever a verdict pops up as 'umpire's call, the decision of the on-field umpire is not changed, but the teams do not lose their review as well.

ICC recently introduced some changes to the game of cricket, and they gave all teams liberty of extra review as non-neutral umpires will be employed in Test matches due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, all teams will now have three reviews in every innings of a Test match. 

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