The Indian Super League kicked off on Sunday, October 12th with much aplomb – a glittering opening ceremony at the home of Indian football: the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, attended by A-list Bollywood celebrities and ex Indian cricketers. But behind this pomp and show, does the ISL really benefit Indian football or does it stand to degenerate into a commercial gimmick like the IPL?
From that the fundamental question arises: What is the ISL? The ISL will run from October 12, 2014 through December 20, 2014. All the eight teams involved will first play a set of fixtures against each other home and away. The top four teams at the end of this stage will make it to the finals series wherein the semi-finals will be played over two legs followed by the final which will be a one-legged final. It is identical to the MLS of the United States of America.
CONS: To begin with, it will stall the development of the I-league and also force organisers to reschedule India’s premier footballing league (FIFA has already raised concerns in this regard). Plus, with the kind of money being pumped in by various sponsors, there is a danger that over the years, the framework regarding the cap on foreign players might be tweaked or removed (like in England), and this will stall the development of Indian players. Finally, several ISL clubs have tied up with foreign clubs (Delhi Dynamos with Feyenoord of Netherlands, Atletico de Kolkata with Atletico Madrid of Spain, etc.). This tie up permits the clubs to trade players with each other upon request. While it could show the world what Indian players are actually capable of, the omnipresent allure of European football will result in a drain of talent from the ISL and sadly will not benefit the nation. And, this concentration of 14 or more games within 2 months makes the ISL seem like a commercial gimmick, unlike a proper football league which is spread over 6-9 months.
This is backed by the following – the presence of publicity hungry celebrities who are the constant focus of cameras. No football fan wants to see John and Abhishek every 2 minutes or Harbhajan Singh taking penalties after the match. The focus should be on the football, atmosphere and crowd rather than our precious Bollywood. Apart from this, there is also no need for a DJ to play music at every highlight during the game. What’s next? Skimpy cheerleaders? The sport is beautiful in itself and does not need these ‘add-ons’ for attracting crowds. Lastly, it’s a failure of the Indian system that Mr. Ambani is still out at large, when he should have been behind bars several times over. The ISL’s foundation is based on an allegedly corrupt sponsor and if it takes off successfully, there will be international media scrutiny on Mr. Ambani and his illegally acquired wealth, thereby tainting whatever reputation the ISL has, or will build.
PROS: With the under-17 FIFA WC in 2017 being hosted by India, the ISL will announce India’s arrival on the world stage. Also, it will encourage the private and public sectors to invest in state of the art infrastructure. The GrassRoots Program of the ISL encourages every team to invest Rs. 2 crore in setting up football schools and camps at the grassroot level. Not only will this benefit Indian football in the long run, it will help in changing the study oriented mindset promoted by our society. The I-league was run by the All India Football Federation, a corrupt government body embroiled in red-tapeism and run by politicians with no love for the game. The ISL is an independent entity, which will not be affected by red tape or petty politics and thus, has the potential to blossom into something very promising.
The ISL is obviously light years behind the top European leagues. India as a nation has years to go before it can claim to have arrived at the world stage. Yet it’s a promising opportunity for Indian football, and can be termed as a shrewd investment into the beautiful game.
© Rudra Bhushan
(History Hons First Year)
WordCraft - The Ramjas Literary Society 
Strange is the mentality of humans. When football was in the dark, we questioned why we are neglecting this beautiful game, why no one is doing anything to promote it, why our cricket superstars aren’t showing the responsibility in promoting other sports.
And now that ISL is into existence, we have started finding more cons than pros.
No offence Mr Author, but it is really sad and disheartening to see the youth react this way!!