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Football News: The Indian Super League Returns

The Indian Super League is heading into its second season this October, with this being the acid test to see if it can keep its popularity over a longer period. The first season saw claims, from the ISL itself, of the tournament having the 4th highest attendances in world football, after the English, German and Spanish leagues. Maintaining that popularity in the long term is the difficult part though.

The organisers need to be careful that they do not fall into the trap of the NASL, the nascent American league, which struggled to maintain the initial attendances in the long term. Star names can only carry a league for so long, there is a real requirement for home grown talent to come through for kids to identify with and want to emulate and better. That is why I was pleased to read that the ISL is in talks to amalgamate with the Indian I-League.

 

The combination of the Indian Super League and I-League could move Indian football on to the next step, similar to the current main league in the USA, the MLS. Major League Soccer has gone beyond just merely bringing in fading superstars looking for a final big payday and semi-retirement, though there is still a little bit of that going on as well. The MLS has instead become a development league for US players, feeding them to the big leagues in Europe, before taking them back when their time there has come to an end.

This combination of I-League and ISL could easily take a large step forward towards that position, though it will take time for it to begin producing its own players on a consistent basis. The local football association, AIFF, are certainly aiming to move the leagues in that direction with their plans to train thousands of coaches in an attempt to rejuvenate grassroots football.

 

Now it is up to the ISL, in the short term, to move past faded and jaded stars, plus the not quite stars but extremely faded and jaded likes of David James, to produce its own stars to play alongside of the foreign stars. There is still a need to bring in new stars, but, to maintain excitement, they will need to begin to bring in ones who are a little less faded than those from the previous season. The ILS needs to look to compete with the MLS for those European fringe pros, the next Bradley Wright-Phillips and Dom Dwyers that can develop in the league and create their own local following.

All of this is going to require continued investment from people with deep pockets who are willing to fund football with a long term target in mind. The target of creating a long term competitive Indian national football team, which is a very long way off right now. Inspiration is there in the shape of the J-League, which, despite being below the level which saw the likes of Gary Lineker journey there to play at one time, is still helping to produce Japanese players capable of competing on the international stage and making a league viable for the foreseeable future.

Written by Tris Burke September 15 2015 07:34:42