SUNBURNT TERRACE by Chiranjit Ojha: ISL doing disservice to itself by ignoring India

THE INDIAN CONTINGENT finally reached Muscat, after a 30 hour delay due to bad weather. They are facing a team 65 places above them in the FIFA rankings, and they will do so today with only 2 practice sessions behind them.

The reason behind their delay, which has immensely hampered their already-thin chances of holding their own against an opponent to whom they have already lost 1-2 at home, with a less depleted team, is natural. But the series of bad decisions that led them being left terribly underprepared for their previous game against Turkmenistan were not. 

Coach Stephen Constantine had wanted a week-long training camp ahead of the two away games in the World Cup Qualifiers this month. Not to say that we had any chance to make it to Russia. But World Cup Qualifiers carry some heavy FIFA ranking points. Our ever-dwindling FIFA rank, now at an embarrassing 157 set to fall further, would have received a great boost if we managed to beat Turkmenistan, instead of shamefully going down to them.

But all necessary preparations were sent for a toss because Indian Super League was about to start. A number of the franchises even tried to withold players from the national team. The situation could have turned way uglier had some cool heads in IMG-Reliance-Star not realised that not releasing players to the national team would ultimately be a muck on the ISL brand in the international market. Who would want to come play here in an environment that undermines a player's international career? The swing that ISL franchises have taken towards younger, fitter foreigners this year would take a hit.

So thus it was that after so much drama, players were allowed to join the national team on the 4th. Franchises claimed big credit for doing the bare minimun; letting the players go 4 days before the match, as per FIFA rules. The idea was that they had just done the biggest favour to the national team and AIFF by following the rules, for once.

But the whole situation demands the question: was all this at all necessary? The Indian Super League has been a runaway success in terms of fan attraction. It has doubled its sponsorship money in one year. Its fan following is pan-Indian, and it has taken Indian football to new heights of popularity. All that has been achieved thanks to a mix of Bollywood and cricket glamour with some ex stars of world football thrown in... but that's beside the point. ISL as a brand is working. A number of the franchises have built up precious loyal fan communities, like FC Goa, Kerala Blasters, and NorthEast United. So it could have acted a little less paranoid and insecure about letting its players put country first. 

For an operation that is pumping so much money into the sport, it is astounding how little regard IMG-Reliance have for the diverse, multi-level way that professional football works. That they have undermined the league system by establishing a private tournament that feeds off the real clubs while marginalising them at the same time speaks for their shrewd business sense. Which is why it's incomprehensible why they did not realise that helping the national team is good for business.

Because legitimacy is a currency that ISL could use. For all its propaganda power, the tournament's professionalism begins and ends with things it can throw money at. Its teams are not real clubs, and the tournament is not recognized by FIFA. It does not have international breaks like any football league in the world. Its ethics system is also somewhat detached; managed externally by AIFF, often through belated interventions.

With this present status, no matter how hard they try, ISL will not be able to attract fresh talented players with real prospect in international football. Because no player fighting for his place in a national team will want to associate himself with an amateur exhibition tournament. Which is why there are only two foreigners in ISL who currently have a place in their respective national teams: Oftense Nato and Sony Norde, both fringe players for their national teams. At a time like this, helping the Indian team, majority of whose players are associated with the ISL, do well, would have been a good roundabout way to claim legitimacy.

The players were released on 4th October. Which means most of the franchises have not been able to field their national team stars even once. But so far there has been no dip in ticket sales. That's because the fans ISL attracts come to the stadium to watch their teams. They came to watch it last year when several national team players were not even part of it and they surely are not going to stop now.

What, then, was the point of snuffing out the national team's preparatory camp? What did ISL gain by doing the national team such a disservice? In a football landscape increasingly muddied by its internal tussles and power equations, the national team is caught in the middle of an ugly tug of war. IMG-Reliance-Star and AIFF need to understand that the success and growth of the ISL is directly linked to the growth and rise of the Indian team, and it would help them tremendously if they worked towards achieving that too, rather than concentrating all efforts into running a two-month tournament.

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