South Asian Football - Dawn of New Horizons and Hopes for India in 2006

The year 2005 ended on a sweet note for India as she was crowned the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Champion for the fourth time. After being under the cloud for sometime in the past it was yet another positive development for the Indian football after the AIFF allowed private participation in broadcasting and telecast.

Indian football stands at a crucial juncture today where infusions that are essential to make it a success are slowly being injected into one after another. But to make Indian football a viable commodity and a brand would take much more than that.

I would like to point towards the debate from various quarters that generated in the recent past and looked at the traditional methods and models that aim to fast track the processes that would aid to development of football on a sustainable basis in an Indian perspective. In my opinion most of these approaches are based on maximizing efficiencies of the processes that operate in an environment that has a sufficient degree of control on variables through interaction between various agencies. I would place the pursuit of viewership, revenue, ad-expenditure, sponsorship, branding etc. in this category as these pursuits operate in national environments where interaction between government(s), federation(s) and other parties such as sponsors etc. have either tangible or intangible control methods that are crucial for the success of any enterprise.

In the world that is rapidly coming together because of globalization these country specific traditional approaches bring in only limited benefits. A better way to fast track the process is to bring in consonance in the efforts from various quarters of the region and learn from one another's experience. There is an urgent need for the Indian parties to go for a holistic approach that is south Asia specific and draws on the comparative advantages of the region to maximize gains.

To make football a technical and commercial success in India there is an urgent need to look beyond national boundaries and concentrate on to develop a quality competition in the south Asian region. During my recent visit to Dhaka to meet Mr. Sirajul Islam Bachchu, the general secretary of the South Asian Football Federation, we agreed that the stakeholders involved in the game of football should shun their myopic view and look at the bigger picture.

India being the economic powerhouse of the region can do a lot by pumping in necessary cash flows in the neighbouring countries to develop football. This will not only be a cost-effective goodwill gesture for the firms to reach masses but an exercise that would build their brand by associating it with the most visible sport in the world. TATAs have been a forerunner in this effort and are supporting the football in Bangladesh for some years now. It will do firms like Mahindra & Mahindra, UB, Zee etc. that are involved with the football in India a tremendous amount of good if in their attempt to look beyond India they target neighbouring countries as well. This will be a symbiotic relationship as it will not only give these firms and their products a footing in neighbouring countries but will also help build quality competition in the region like Cricket that has produced three world champions from the subcontinent.

I would like to put forward the argument that it is essential to have a quality competition within a particular region to produce a world champion. All the countries that became world champions in Cricket had quality competition in their proximity. Australia had New Zealand, West Indies had many small nation states playing quality cricket and not to mention India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka from the subcontinent where cricket is like a religion. England despite being the homeland of the game could not claim the laurel .This is not to say that the English do not play quality cricket but my aim is to bring forward a positive correlation between regional popularity of the game and the probability of success in it. Going by the very logic it can be argued that England became a world champion in Football because they have quality competition just across the channel.

A lot needs to be done to unveil the tremendous latent potential the south Asian region encompasses in football. After all why a country like Nepal that produces the best soldiers in the world fares miserably in the FIFA rankings just like its other neighbours? What lacks in a quality soldier that stops him from being a quality footballer? This demands a careful introspection. Surely the people from our part of the world do not lack essential skills and strength as has been propagated by some quarters attributing it to local diet and other factors otherwise how could they be fighting fit and fit for fighting in the battlefields across the world as part of the UN operations. The key to our success would be to translate our latent potential into an active one and channelize our energies in a positive way by concentrating and building on our core skills.

We can learn by the experiences in Cricket that is now by far the leading sport in terms of the market value and the market share in the south Asian region. The Zee Sports deal with the AIFF can replicate the same success story for football like what World Tel did for cricket around 15 years back.

The attempt should be towards the localization of the football phenomenon that suits the native palette save any compromises on quality. And a distinct local flavour to the sport would help great lengths to build a brand that will be gulped by the masses. After all an India-Pakistan cricket series generates more excitement and evokes responses both emotional and economic that surpass that of the Ashes. If it can happen in cricket there is no doubt that why it should not be for football as well.

So in order to build quality football locally it is in the interest of India to look beyond its borders and help its neighbours as well. It is a win-win situation for India as it will not only give football an exponential growth within a short span of time in the region but also an important but yet unexplored diplomatic policy tool to build bridges and strengthen people to people contact with the countries in south Asia, CIS and Middle East where football is a national obsession.