More often than not, Indian athletes fade away into anonymity after their day in the sun. Rarely do we come across non-Cricket athletes that are able to contribute effectively to the realm of sports after their playing days are over. Even more rare is the sight of an ex-Indian athlete that manages the transition into the world of business and that too related to a different sport than the one that he or she pursued as a youngster.

IndianFootball.Com was fortunate to catch up with Anil Kumar, a basketball player that after his playing days found his calling as the Country Head for SportzIndia and sees football as a commercial possibility in India.

Anil Kumar was recently named to the executive committee of the World Basketball Club (WBC) for the India-Middle East region. The WBC, which is being organised by American Basketball Association (ABA), will have professional basketball teams from around the world competing for the title and the tournament will be held in July 2010.

For more insight on what Anil thinks of Indian sports and football in particular, please read on.

Harmit: Please tell us about yourself, your childhood, your love for sports and basketball in particular?

Anil: My childhood had a lot to do with my passion for sports because I studied in a residential school (Montfort School) in Yercaud, Tamil Nadu with Football, Hockey and Cricket being compulsory from age 8 to 15 with two days a week allotted for each of the above. This routine helped create a sports culture into my entire schooling environment.

Actually, I took to Basketball only when I was 14 more as a part-time sport because I was a regular Table Tennis player at a few tourneys apart from being a swimming champ. So my sports background had a variety mix which is now proving to be very useful. While I joined college, I had come back to my home town Trivandrum and that was when I really got stuck with serious Basketball. It became a more fulltime game after I joined Engineering in 1982 and then really started enjoying every moment of my involvement with the sport.

Harmit: Did you receive your family's full support in your basketball endeavours?

Anil: Yes and no. My Dad who passed away in 1993 never wanted me to become a sportsman and was more interested in my professional career and I think I managed to handle both my engineering and Basketball careers together. My mom, brother and sister were more flexible in supporting me and I believe saw a lot of value in what I was doing at least in the latter part of my career.

Harmit: What were some of the highpoints of your basketball career?

Anil: On the player front, being on the starting Five and winning the All India Inter University Basketball championship on a cold December night at Hissar in 1985, after a gap of 18 years and then repeating the victory at Behrampur in 1986 were my best games. That was followed by a series of victories while playing for my club team against established institutions like Indian Bank, Southern Railway, Signals Delhi, etc in the Kerala circuit tourneys.

On the management front, I had my highpoint to be the Organising Secretary of The Federation Cup National Basketball while I was 22 and studying in College in 1986 right in between my playing heydays. I had the privilege of leading the organisational framework for 3 of the 4 National Basketball championships Kerala hosted during the last 25 years.

Harmit: What are some of the things that you think are wrong with the way the Indian governments and sports associations in India handle the development of sports?

Anil: We have a clear system failure and keep trying to do the same things in different ways and expect different results. It’s never ever going to happen. This applies to both sports associations and government agencies. This aspect has been rightly dealt with by the BCCI and they have delivered.

Secondly, the role of the Government and even the associations should purely be limited to that of a facilitator. We need to develop a system wherein professional agencies are the implementers.

Thirdly, we need to accept sports not merely as a physical competition but as a science by itself and attached to national pride.

Harmit: What made you look at football as a business opportunity? How big is the opportunity related to football in India and in Kerala?

Anil: My priorities have always been Basketball but when you do business with sport, you need to understand opportunities better than passions.

I realized that FIFA and the AFC are moving to a professional system unlike the FIBA/ABC in Basketball. So from a business viewpoint, I thought I should not miss the football bus since the cricket bus in India is overcrowded.

Harmit: Could you please share with us your experience in dealing with overseas football clubs and their willingness to come to India? Which clubs and tournaments have you assisted with in securing overseas participation?

Anil: Having brought the world famous Harlem Globetrotters American Basketball team to India in 2006, I had a direct feel of the changes in the overall attitude to the Indian sports market in a global perspective. Suddenly, everybody wants to be involved with India. The volume of enquiries that started pouring in from players, agents, sports companies, suppliers, etc baffled me. And I suddenly realized that I need to shift gear in tune with the market trends.

Having kept a close watch at the way cricket was growing, I have a strong feeling that football is the game which 'has the potential' to outplay any other sport. And mind you, we are ranked around 150 which means we have a huge improvement opportunity also.

My efforts to garner support from like minded persons involved with the higher levels of world football brought me into contact with Latin American football associates. Interestingly, they too were waiting to break into the Indian market and my role became easier. So I had Ferroviaria from Sao Paolo, Brazil and Instituto De Futbol from Rio de Janeiro willing to take part in the Nayanar Gold Cup at a point of time when the organizers were actually groping in the dark for international teams. The language problem was and still is a major issue with these countries and it takes a lot of time to really get things clear on both sides.

Harmit: How is your sports firm different from the many other sports firms in India?

Anil: SportzIndia has its base in Kerala which by itself is significant because our home ground has a strong sports culture. Secondly, we have a very strong international partnership arrangement with several companies from US, Europe, Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria, Australia, etc.

Now that we have access to these international knowhow strategies, our present target is to Indianise it and create value to our products and properties. We have just begun to get into this market after doing our international homework well.

Harmit: What are the goals or targets with respect to football that your company SportzIndia desires to achieve?

Anil: Packaging a football club with loyal fans and a jam packed stadium for the home games in future I-League games would be our top priority.

Managing football talents and creating value additions to them through some innovative ideas is definitely a must as part of a football academy plan.

After the Harlem Globetrotters, SportzIndia would love to have icons like Pele or Maradona tour India and we are trying to find an underwriter first since such icons are pretty expensive. In fact, we have already initiated a proposal with Maradona but we need the sponsor.

And perhaps an IPL model league is yet another concept which we have mooted to the top brass during the Vision India launch in Kerala in May 2008.

Harmit: What gives you hope for Indian football in the near future?

Anil: I honestly hope that the AIFF steps on the accelerator and gets going with its pro plans. I am sure that the AFC is almost convincing them about the need to corporatize their thinking process and share revenues to break this crazy situation wherein no football club in India is a profitable venture. I am very hopeful that if this aspects, which is being seriously addressed by the people who matter, there is serious hope to move up the ladder in a quick time span.

Harmit: What do you think about IndianFootball.Com and its work?

Anil: Fantastic and in fact, this website played a major role in my decision to look at the business of football merely because I appreciate the hard work in building up such a site when there was no other serious sports content online still very seriously.
Congrats, it’s a rare achievement!

Harmit: Many, many thanks for all your work for the betterment of Indian football and for the time taken to give us this interview!