The grip of Football in Indian sports arena
Football isn’t instantly loveable, especially in a country like India where the game of cricket has got its solid grip over the Indian sports arena. A year ago, Venk’s (Venkateshwara Hatcheries group) acquired the ownership of English Premier League (EPL) club Blackburn Rovers. It feels great to see an Indian company owning a premier football club in foreign soil; that too owning a club in a country like Great Britain (which once ruled India) should obviously bring a lot of pride to India. But one must also have to think about the state of Indian Football. “Cricket stadiums in India never get to see silent spectators – that’s cricket at its best; football stadiums in India never even get to see spectators – that’s football at its worst”. The Indian Football is already enmeshed in a quicksand of depression and hence the present situation can’t be allowed to drag on. The dismal state of the Indian Football should have to be taken care of, ironically if not by the government, then at least by the leading businessmen of India. It’s good to see the Indian business community promoting the ‘beautiful game’ football in foreign lands; but it will be better to see them promoting the same game in India by starting football academies; why not, if it’s good for Indian football? (Given the sorry state of the beautiful game in India) The TATA Group has the Tata Football Academy (Jamshedpur) in its pocket. Hope, the other big business groups in India, will come to the rescue of the ailing Indian Football by grooming potential young talents.
sriramnivas 
In India cricket has over shadowed every sport. I like football and wish more efforts should be made for this sport in India.
October 17, 2011 at 8:18 pm
Football can take the centre satge in India, but not without the help of the government…….Till then, we the football lovers should have to wait with our fingers crossed.
October 19, 2011 at 2:13 am
come to Kolkata to see a East Bengal v/s Mohan Bagan match…ah the fight…the craze…this is one city where football still comes before cricket….with the govn took steps to improve the grounds and promoted not only football but also hockey…
nice post
Cheers!
SUB
http://evolvingdaddy.blogspot.com/
October 18, 2011 at 3:52 am
Will never miss this game, if I come to Kolkata……..I am really happy that at least in Kolkata, we see football at its best. That’s the way it should be in the entire country.
October 19, 2011 at 2:07 am
Hope! Football game will become lead the popularity like Cricket in India
T.Padmanabhan
October 18, 2011 at 4:05 am
thanks for the invite I am not a sports buff.. I shoot the street and relevant subjects..take care wish you well..
October 18, 2011 at 4:32 am
Football, once a craze, is not longer have an audience.
October 18, 2011 at 5:27 am
Even free gate passes can’t attract football lovers……That is the state of Football in India. Your comment is indeed reflects the truth and something has to be done regarding this………Hmmmmm
October 19, 2011 at 2:18 am
I always appreciate all the sports people in India who play some game apart from cricket … its real love for that particular game they display I guess … because otherwise it is quite easy to lose your game for money i.e. cricket ! nice post and btw I love watching football for its speed.
October 18, 2011 at 6:33 am
In India, no other game excites the spectators more than cricket. But the question is ‘How long will this trend continue?’….As u said, people who show interest in other games are trying desperately to change this trend. If this trend changes, then hopefully, India will happen to win more medals in any olympics in the days to come……thanx for ur valuable comments.
October 19, 2011 at 2:04 am
while it’s a good concern but i think it is not just about football it is the case with every sport other than cricket in India. Football to me is secondary when our national sport is Hockey and we are no where near even worth being mentioned in that sport when once we were olympic champions. It’s a sorry state. Government i think has a big hand in pushing any sport along with private parties and i guess private parties might be more helpful in the cause like you mentioned. But in a lot of way people in India also need to learn other forms of Sports and start appreciating it.
Also like someone has already mentioned. Kolkata definitely is crazily in love with Football and that is one place where it doesn’t go down below cricket. People are as passionate about that sport as they might be about cricket. Messi finally got the hugest welcome in Cal from genuine football followers and not by wannabe young kids who think following a Manu or Arsenal is so damn cool.. 🙂
October 18, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Ya…..I totally agree with u. I have also written a post on hockey. I guess, this hockey post will make u feel happy. Obviously, there are many souls like me who support the cause of our national game in the country.
Link: https://sriramnivas.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/indian-hockey-is-a-rapidly-fading-light/
October 19, 2011 at 1:59 am
Nice article… Everyone should support the games like hockey, football, etc.. That will surely happen in future…….
October 19, 2011 at 1:25 pm
Yaa….let’s hope that proper support will be given by the Indian Government to other games in the future.
October 19, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Football is a sport which every one of us would have played in our childhood so we cannot say that its not popular in India rather we must understand that we have actually underestimated it. There are few players in India who have taken this sport seriously but they could not take it to the higher level because we have restricted it to the school level. SO i feel the nation must show interest and think beyond school level. Being a football player you would have felt this more than me which came out in the shape of this article, ggod work.
October 19, 2011 at 5:10 pm
a beautiful sport neglected.. sad
October 20, 2011 at 11:16 am
Football is popular in college too. I have watched foodball tournaments during my college days. There were cricket tournaments too.
Cricket is more intersting to impatient spectators who wish to see the results every now and then. and our country is filled with that kind of people, who are being utilized by our advertizers, finally pushing my favorate game football down.
George
http://peermade.info
October 21, 2011 at 12:41 pm
Nice post mate. I guess Kerala and WB are the two states that nurture the Football talent (something to do with communists I guess lolzz ) I love the sport and like to see improvement in India on the same. Keep posting…
October 21, 2011 at 1:19 pm
It’s true that in these two states, the people are a bit crazy about soccer. But what about the rest of the states??? This beautiful game should take the upper hand in other states also; Again the question is ‘will it happen???’ Let’s wait and see……Thanx for ur comments
October 21, 2011 at 1:27 pm
Yaa….Kerala and Kolkata do their best to promote this beautiful game. Let’s see what’s in store for this great game in the days to come. Thanks for ur comments.
October 21, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Let me try and guess at least three people who were involved in the national level in Indian Football: Baichang Bhutia, Vijayan, Sathyam. Yaaayyyy. But I know only three names 😦
I was in Kerala during the previous FIFA world cup and a lot of areas had argentina flags, brazil flags, etc and people were roaming/ driving around shouting the names of their favorite stars. It was good to see that spirit for football at least in one state.
Destination Infinity
November 2, 2011 at 5:56 pm