The news of Mahindra United FC, the powerhouse of Mumbai football, disbanding the team got each of us by surprise on Saturday morning through the newspapers. The Mahindra United management took this decision on Thursday itself and disseminated the news to the media on Friday. As everyone would see Mahindra United going the way of Mumbai teams like Tata’s and Mafatlal’s who were once the giant club of Mumbai city during 60s, 70s and 80s, it is really shocking and very sad for mobilization of football in Mumbai. I was very proud that Mumbai has three clubs representing I-league and was foreseeing a shift of footballing waves from the East to the West. I never thought that Mahindra would close shop, as I believe that Mahindra United is the face of football in Mumbai and had a long way to go and take along Mumbai as a footballing city. The other two clubs of Mumbai, Air India and Mumbai FC, are like images on the sand which would be swept away by sea water. These clubs fate hang in the hands of the management of the respective clubs. As Yousuf Ansari, former Indian player and Manager of Air India, rightly pointed out that Mumbai is going Hyderabad and Bangalore way. Hyderabad and Bangalore were once a football player’s dream city in the 50s, 60s and 70s and gradually it had a slow end to the football aficionado.
I am happy that by disbanding the club the Mahindra management is not annihilating itself from football completely. Their social initiative for sports and especially for football in the way of supporting and nurturing young talents through school football is truly appreciable. Encouragement of football should begin at school level and school should make it a point to develop, nurture these homegrown talents by having full time coaching system, matches and tournaments. I hope the Mahindra United management acts on their words and take it to the desired destination.
I was thinking to myself what it would be that provoked the management to take such drastic decision. The management has come with great excuses or reasoning per se, but I think at the end of the day it comes down to money. In India, no football clubs earn from the clubs establishment and activities. It may be because of lack of corporate support, media attention, followers, advertisement and publicity etc. Here, I would like to mention that AIFF has a role to play. AIFF should come up with concepts, ideas, laws, rules were each club earn as well as get better media attention and publicity and traditional clubs like Mahindra just don’t shut the shop at once. It is really painful to know that India being one of the upcoming economies, none of our football club have met the eligibility criteria laid down by AFC and now AFC has to pull up the socks of these clubs and support them financially too for this endeavour. Having said that my suggestion to the management of Mahindra United is to have an auction of the club and give it a better publicity. I believe they would be financially benefitted and the legacy lives on.
I am happy that by disbanding the club the Mahindra management is not annihilating itself from football completely. Their social initiative for sports and especially for football in the way of supporting and nurturing young talents through school football is truly appreciable. Encouragement of football should begin at school level and school should make it a point to develop, nurture these homegrown talents by having full time coaching system, matches and tournaments. I hope the Mahindra United management acts on their words and take it to the desired destination.I was thinking to myself what it would be that provoked the management to take such drastic decision. The management has come with great excuses or reasoning per se, but I think at the end of the day it comes down to money. In India, no football clubs earn from the clubs establishment and activities. It may be because of lack of corporate support, media attention, followers, advertisement and publicity etc. Here, I would like to mention that AIFF has a role to play. AIFF should come up with concepts, ideas, laws, rules were each club earn as well as get better media attention and publicity and traditional clubs like Mahindra just don’t shut the shop at once. It is really painful to know that India being one of the upcoming economies, none of our football club have met the eligibility criteria laid down by AFC and now AFC has to pull up the socks of these clubs and support them financially too for this endeavour. Having said that my suggestion to the management of Mahindra United is to have an auction of the club and give it a better publicity. I believe they would be financially benefitted and the legacy lives on.
The next question that comes to mind is “do Mumbai deserves such disinclination?” I would say yes. I won’t like to blame anyone, but yes as a footballer and a follower, we people rarely visits our so called shambled Cooperage football stadium to watch an I-league match. It is really disheartening that people from cities like Pune and Shillong have proved their liking and following of football by averaging an audience of 5000 to 8000 per match and cheering for their respective teams far better than people from Mumbai. These cities are the new entrants in the Indian football scene and Mumbai has a great past as far as Indian football is concerned. Just imagine these scene where there is an I-league match being scheduled in Coooperage and a large scale publicity of this match by way of hoardings, newspapers, magazines, FM stations, internet, merchandising, celebrity messages, dissemination of tickets by way of gifts and prizes through contests had been done and on the given day the stadium is packed to the brink. In such situations, do you think any club would disband the team, the corporate would not like to be part of this celebration, the players won’t perform to their best and prove their melee, there won’t be growth and development of football. Now who is to blame for not having such scenario? Yes, of course AIFF and WIFA for not publicizing the event, the club themselves for not mobilising people to come to the event, and last but not the least we footballers and followers for giving a cold shoulder to this event. We can go on and on talking about European football and World football but there is no much we have to say about our domestic circuit. There would be obvious good reasons of ourselves for not doing so but at the end of the day what we would see is that leaders like Mahindra United disbanding the team and we get such shocking news and we grief about it.
I would like to know your views on it.
2 comments:
It is really sad to hear that one of the best club in India is been shut down. We need more sponsers and need to promote the game through different mode of communication.School,Colleges and Co-operative firm should take it more iniciative to promote the game. Hope we soon get a positive response from everyone...
Indeed it is really sad Ganesh. The promotion of the game should come from us, the players and officials first by way of attending and conducting football activities and disseminating information about events in and around our place.
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