Entertainment OK but standard of sport is real issue

Wide-eyed and visibly in awe, a group of boys were standing at the farthest corner of the corridor in Nehru Stadium. The star-studded Dempo team was practicing on the pitch, but the boys' attention was focused elsewhere. A group of girls were rehearsing their dance show for the inauguration ceremony of the Federation Cup and the boys were watching them keenly.
"We are members of the Goa under-16 team camping here for the National championships," one of the boys said. "Will these girls dance in the same fashion on the ground, too?" he asked. When replied in the affirmative and asked whether he would like it, the boy offered an unsure smile and said, "Why not? It would be fun. But why didn't they bring Bhaichung Bhutia? I would love to watch him. East Bengal should have played Bhutia. I will like them to lose this time." The boys sounded determined to change the subject.
The kids want Bhutia to be part of the dancing team. National coach Syed Nayeemuddin sticks to his orthodox view that former Olympians and gold medallists should be paraded on the dais for the inauguration. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is delighted with the great television coverage and the money pouring in. And the TV channel boldly announces over the public address system that they are here to usher in a new era in Indian football.
But can TV coverage alone change the fortunes of Indian football? It can, of course, provide financial support, which can be used to develop the game at the grass-roots level, but to improve the standard one needs to do much more than give dazzling 12-camera coverage and highly professional running commentary.
Zee Television is certainly making an honest effort to erase the tag of boredom associated with Indian football, but they can still find viewers promptly switching over to other channels if there is no improvement in the standard in the next few years.
If television coverage alone could change the course of Indian football, then it would have happened when Star Sports had the AIFF rights during the first National Football League in 1997.
Faced with uplinking problems, it could not show the matches live, but its delayed telecast definitely made a mark. By showing the matches again and again during the football season, it made the likes of Bhutia, IM Vijayan and Jo Paul Ancheri into near-stars at the Asian level.
Why the AIFF, led by president Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, showed Star Sports the door after a year and brought in Doordarshan still remains a mystery.
On paper, DD's ability to beam matches live was the reason, but the decision proved a serious blow to Indian football. DD coverage made Indian football look worse than it actually is yet the money that came from the official electronic media remained the main source of income for the AIFF for quite a few years.
It's not that Indian football never got good coverage. When the show was managed by a Hong Kong-based company during the 1999 SAFF Football here, viewers got excellent feedback of India's triumph in the tournament, though they did not have the entertainment package which Zee is providing this time. Like Star Sports, they too lasted only one tournament.
This is not an attempt to speculate how long Zee Sports will be able to get along with AIFF. But then, sparkling television coverage alone is not the path for the game's development.
AIFF certainly needs a pat on the back for being able to do a good marketing job. But then, a marketing company could have done that job too.
Let the AIFF perform their basic duty of improving the standard of the game. Spectators then will not sit at home and watch the matches. Rather, they will throng the grounds.