Behind The New Offside Rule

Our newspapers are normally all aclutter with football news바카라�rep­ortage from the English Premier League, La Liga and Serie A, where titans of the modern game exult defiantly after their latest exploits. But suddenly, Indian soccer is making news. Even in the times of cloying 바카라�super sixes바카라�, and hackneyed cheerleaders at cricket바카라�s biggest carnival, IPL had to share headline space with the I-League. A little known football club, Aizawl FC, had won the dom­estic tournament. And a few weeks ago, the Indian national team had made it to the top 100 of FIFA바카라�s ranking for the first time in 21 years, albeit tied with Nicaragua, Lithuania and Estonia for that final 100th spot.

But soon, Aizawl FC바카라�s achie­vement바카라�a feat no less miraculous than Leicester City바카라�s EPL win last year바카라�had drifted down a predictable path: of state apathy and petty politics. Two days after Aizawl FC was crowned the best football club in India바카라�the first from the Northeast바카라�it said in an dramatic press release that it would 바카라�resort to world-wide protests, dem­­onstrations near Fifa offices and picketing of AIFF office바카라�. The reason is that, despite winning the I-League, the club feared they would not be a part of the top-tier of Indian football next sea­­son if the proposed merger of the I-Lea­gue바카라�the premier club competition of India, with a provision for promotion and relegation, started in 2007바카라�and IMG-Relia­nce바카라�s Indian Super Lea­­gue (ISL) went through. The propo­sal, floated by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) in May last year sugges­ted a three-tier football pyramid, with the top league comprising eight ISL sides and two/three of the I-League clubs.

Aizawl FC바카라�s owner Robert Royte hoped the protests, including the threat of a 바카라�fast unto death바카라�, would make the AIFF listen to their plea. 바카라�But there has been no response,바카라� he told Outlook. Howe­ver, many think the ISL must be the engine of growth of Indian football, despite whispers that the Aizawl episode may have upset AIFF바카라�s plans. AIFF vice-president Subrata Dutta says that 바카라�merger plans are not in place now바카라�, that it would take 바카라�two-three years for it to happen바카라�. The ISL, says Dutta, will be a six-month league from next season, with the number of foreign players a team can field to come down to four from six. That would make ISL clubs eligible for the Asian Football Confederation바카라�s (AFC) competitions, which have a 3+1 foreigner rule (with one player of Asian descent). Former I-League champions Bengaluru FC and East Bengal are reportedly in various stages of tying up with the ISL.

Where does that leave clubs like Aizawl FC? And what exactly has the ISL brought to Indian football?

In December 2010, Reliance signed a Rs 700 crore deal with the AIFF for 15 years to 바카라�promote and develop바카라� the game in India and gained all commercial rights to Indian football. In 2014, the franchise-­based ISL started by IMG-Reliance, Star India Ltd and AIFF quickly became the fourth most-watched league in the world. According to TV audience measurement body BARC, the 2016 edition of the ISL had 216 million viewers, a 41 per cent increase over the previous season. An AIFF insider says it is all down to drawing the middle-class back into the habit of watching football. Big players are also nee­ded to pull crowds to the grounds, for the galaxy of iconic Indian soccer stars from the 바카라�50s to the 바카라�80s were never replaced.

Debjit Ghosh, former Ind­ian captain and assistant coach of East Bengal till last year, says a concept like the ISL was long overdue. 바카라�We should have been on this course ten years ago. Football should be thought of as a business; we need advertisements and sponsors,바카라� he says. Ghosh links the rise of India in the world rankings to this.

In its persona, the ISL is quite like its cousin in cric­ket, the IPL, and it would seem some fans are yet to make a differ­ence. In a match between Delhi Dyn­a­­mos and Che­n­­nayin FC in 2015, one heard the familiar chant of 바카라�Sachin, Sac­hin바카라� from the crowd when asked by the PA system to 바카라�make some noise바카라�. It바카라�s enough to get footb­all purists바카라� knickers in a twist.

But ISL hasn바카라�t rea­lly man­­aged to make an Ind­ian a hou­­s­­ehold name, say critics, like football writer Novy Kapadia. Over three seasons of the competition, says Kapadia, only one Ind­ian, Jeje Lalkpekhlua, has made it to the top-ten goalscorers list. And talking of 바카라�big names바카라�, the leading ISL goalsco­rer, Canadian Ian Hume, can be best described as a journeyman forward with spells at second-tier clubs like Tranmere, Preston and Leicester City before they were famous. And as far as luring people to the game is concerned, the East Bengal-Mohun Bagan derby still brings in close to a lakh fanatical fans into Calcutta바카라�s Salt Lake Stadium, says former Indian captain Dipendu Biswas. He talks of the old, rivalrous emotions attached to the game and of the carnival atmosphere before the 바카라�big-game바카라� of Indian football.

However, football writer Jaydeep Basu says the league has rekindled interest in football. 바카라�The ISL is great entertainment. Don바카라�t doubt their ability to bring people to the grounds,바카라� he says. The quality of television telecast and the infrastructure have also improved vastly, but he questions the league바카라�s structure. 바카라�Apart from the likes of Jeje and Sunil Chhetri, no Ind­ian player grabbed eyeballs,바카라� he says.

Biswas concurs with that. He says that work from the grassroots has not been up to scratch other than in Mumbai; the fact that Indian players have been larg­ely ign­ored reflects in the team line-ups too. 바카라�Everyone wants to play with two foreign strikers, a foreign defender,바카라� he says, explaining that important positions are not usually given to Ind­ians. 바카라�There should be one compulsory Ind­­ian striker,바카라� he suggests. In res­ponse, AIFF바카라�s Dutta says coaches cho­­ose players best suited for the position. 바카라�If Indian players are better, they will rep­lace them,바카라� he says. Dutta clarifies that fran­chises are also doing their bit to improve standards, citing the exa­­mple of Atletico de Kolkata, who have a third-division side in the Calcutta Football League.

Biswas says that the ISL and its proposed academies were supposed to churn out players who would make the cut for the national squad at the upcoming FIFA Under 17 World Cup, a tournament India qualified for on account of hosting it. 바카라�Pat­ience will bear results,바카라� responds Dutta. 바카라�If it hasn바카라�t happened, it doesn바카라�t mean that it will never happen,바카라� he adds.

If the ISL is to become the mainstay of our only league, structural cha­nges are essential. FIFA will only recognise a single league from the country바카라�curren­tly the I-League바카라�and the ISL has no second or third tier or a rel­eg­ation/promotion system, as any top national league must. In October 2014, then FIFA general secretary Valcke had said the same, terming the ISL as a 바카라�tournament바카라�. 바카라�You cannot have two leagues in a country바카라�it doesn바카라�t work. So, for us, there is one league under the aegis of the federation and that바카라�s the I-League,바카라� he had said.

Even if the ISL and the I-League do not merge soon, the scenario of both running in a calendar year could mean a massive workload for Indian footballers. While the I-League runs bet­­­ween January and April, the ISL is to begin this year in Aug­ust and run till Dec­ember, with May바카라�s Federation Cup sandwiched in the middle.

Yet, undeniably, cha­­nges are afoot, with ISL a pret­ender to 바카라�top league바카라� status and 바카라�legacy바카라� clubs like Mohun Bagan and East Bengal lin­­ing up to play ball. The fog will clear soon, with the AFC expected to respond to AIFF바카라�s proposal on including ISL clubs in its league on May 24. For the sake of the demotic roma­nce that바카라�s football, Aizawl FC바카라�s protestations ought not to have been in vain.