ISL: Decoding Pele's India visits – 1977 and 2015
Brazilian soccer great Pele will witness Atletico de Kolkata’s first home match of ISL season 2 against Kerala Blasters on Tuesday. As we laud the Kolkata franchise’s achievement, irony dies a thousand deaths.
Even as the land of Bengal begins its Mahalaya celebrations, the homecoming of Goddess Durga, the fervent passion around the festival seems matched only by their love for football.
The football-crazy people of Kolkata, at the same time, are rejoicing the visit of soccer's greatest ever, Pele. The Brazilian reached on Sunday amidst a joyous reception from a sizable crowd. The gathering outside the airport wasn't as large as it was 38 years ago.
The Meteorological department in Kolkata has predicted thunderstorms for the next three days, much like they had back in 1977 when over a lakh starry-eyed fans watched Pele's New York Cosmos take on Indian domestic giant, Mohun Bagan in a friendly at the Eden Gardens, even as more waited outside the stadium.
A lot has changed over the years, even in a city which lives within a time capsule. Eden Gardens no longer holds football games, Communism exists only in the history books and East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting are no longer the only major stakeholders in Kolkata football.
Atletico de Kolkata is the new bully in the block, and has been aggressively marketing itself with glitz and glamour. Pele's visit is part of that all pervading capitalist machination-marketing, but this time even the most loyal Mohun Bagan and East Bengal fans, who normally despise anything related to the Indian Super League, won't complain.
For Mohun Bagan supporters, Pele brings back memories of what many claim to be their best performance on a football pitch – holding a star-studded New York Cosmos side to a 2-2 draw.
There is an irony about his visit, however, one that boldly states the direction Indian football is taking currently.
Back in 1977, Mohun Bagan urged Pele’s New York Cosmos to visit for an affordable appearance fee, in order to help the Indian club win back the support of their fans. Bagan was undergoing a tumultuous phase, after facing a humiliating defeat at the hands of East Bengal in the premier Calcutta league.
The Mariners may have suffered a similarly humbling defeat against their arch-rivals in the Calcutta Football League last month. This time, though, Bagan, along with the rest of the I-League clubs, are facing a much more serious problem – India’s premier football league, and the clubs, are battling for survival. And Pele isn't here to help them this time around.
The Brazilian great is here to promote the Indian Super League franchise Atletico de Kolkata, and will be present in the VIP box of the Salt Lake Stadium to witness the defending champions’ first home match of ISL-2.0– against last year’s runners-up Kerala Blasters.
Pele will also felicitate the 1977 Mohun Bagan team that he played against for 30 minutes on a water-logged pitch. It is possibly an appropriate way to honour former Indian stars like Shibaji Banerjee and Bidesh Bose, and the legacy they have left behind - a legacy that is struggling to survive.
From a 124-year-old establishment like Mohammedan Sporting to newly formed Bharat FC, a host of clubs are on the verge of shutting down. There are also unconfirmed reports that India's oldest and the world’s third-oldest football tournament, the Durand Cup, is to be scrapped due to lack of interest from sponsors.
The Durand Cup will join other tournaments with long tradition like the Rovers Cup, Federation Cup and DCM Trophy which have all been removed from the calendar. A sign of changing times indeed.
Pele has himself been credited with changing the face of football, or soccer as they call it, in America. When he signed for New York Cosmos back in 1974, the North American Soccer League was just six-year-old. His arrival brought in a lot of interest, hype, and star quotient, that the sports was missing in America earlier.
Indian Super League is striving to do what Pele did back then. Bring in the stars, invest in grassroots, kindle interest among fans, and most importantly investors. Questions, however, remain about the order in which the following have been prioritized.
Pele is convinced about what should come at the top of the list, for the betterment of Indian football. The World Cup winner said, "You have to start working at the base. You have to give chance to players to go abroad and play from where they can gather experience. They can then come here and share their experiences. But firstly you have to support the base.”
"You should have football in universities, schools and colleges. It is important to train kids for the future.”
He also didn't seem to have any doubts about who can do that. “Oh yes! ISL can improve Indian football, no doubt about it," quipped the legend.
When the league started out, IMG sold the idea of ISL mostly on the fact that it will force the franchises to invest on youth development programs. While Nita Ambani did grab the headlines at the launch of “Reliance Foundation Young Champs”, the ISL clubs are yet to match the sell, which was initially promised.
Questions were also raised when the ISL clubs refused to release the national team players in advance for India's World Cup Qualifying matches. The squad came together only three days before their game against Turkmenistan, and certainly didn't have enough time to prepare. In most other nations, the domestic league is put on hold for the weekends in which international matches are scheduled – but ISL didn't bother.
As Pele grabs all the eyeballs at the Salt-Lake Stadium tomorrow, India will quietly play Oman at Muscat. While the ISL is broadcast in five different languages, across eight television channels, the only place where you could get any idea of the India v Turkmenistan match was the AIFF twitter handle.
Questions have been raised on social media, about why and how ISL is hindering India's World Cup Qualifying campaign, but now those questions have been buried under awe-stricken tweets and posts about Pele's visit.
Back in 1977, Dhiren Dey, Mohun Bagan's club secretary back then, urged Pele to arrive when the fans were raising too many questions about the club's poor performances on the pitch. Soon the questions were buried under the euphoria Pele generated.
Football has a wicked sense of humour, eh?