India Has Delivered A Hugely Successful U-17 World Cup: FIFA

[Joe Shearer]

Hi Joe Sir How are you? remember me?

How are you, old boy? Of course I remember you, but damned if I remember your aliases. I bet you didn't, either!

Lol.. Btw do you know a bloke named Paul Walsh, Ex Brit diplomat, Now does some wonderful charity work with disadvantaged slum kids in Calcutta and tribal kids in other parts of Bengal like Darjeeling, He runs a program called Khelo Rugby, Where kids are taken off the street and given free education and teaches the game and the virtues that comes with it.. Brilliant bloke.. Also manages a team called Jungle crows consists both boys and girls of poor background and some foreigners based in Calcutta

Haven't met him but read about him. DAMN good job he's doing, bless the man.
What d'you mean 'tribal' kids? Those are Gurkhas.

 

[protest]

India's successful delivery has given confidence to many others.

Rwanda is bidding for 2019 u-17 FIFA WC I heard.

Oh, thank god. Its atleast Rwanda not Bangladesh.

 

[FULL_METAL]

Oh, thank god. Its atleast Rwanda not Bangladesh.

Lol FIFA is probably not aware of BD's existence

 

[gslv mk3]

India's successful delivery has given confidence to many others.

Rwanda >>> least livable Dhaka !!!

 

[FULL_METAL]

Rwanda >>> least livable Dhaka !!!

Oh come on, nothing in this world can match Dhaka as a city and Baalton as a company, ask Billu

 

[IndoCarib]

 

[Tom M]

Well isnt Bengal and Goa the hotbed of Indian football, I have heard the annual club football Derby in Calcutta attracts more crowds than to some Cricket matches.. If it was hosted anywhere else wouldn't have been this successful

You missed Kerala I guess.

 

[Gibbs]

What d'you mean 'tribal' kids? Those are Gurkhas.

Nah mate like proper tribal people, Are Gurkhas tribal ? I thought they're Nepalese ??

You missed Kerala I guess.

Did'nt know Soccer is popular in Kerala

 

[Tom M]

Did'nt know Soccer is popular in Kerala

Not only Kerala, but other states too. Actually the Indian Super League (ISL) is the 4th Biggest Soccer league as per viewership behind, English, German and Spanish leagues.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/dec/23/india-super-league-fourth-biggest-league

And this is what the Brazilian U-17 Coach had to tell about Kerala.

“We have felt like home ever since we landed in India, and more so after coming to Kochi. We have felt the synergy and empathy the people of Kerala have with Brazil and football,” Amadeu

 

[third eye]

True.

I have a bone to pick with you. What you have nonchalantly waved away as the 'annual club football Derby' in Calcutta are the only three football matches in the world to matter: East Bengal against I forget their name, some bozos in maroon and dark green. We nearly always win, but take care to keep them going by giving them the odd game in twenty; after all they needed some incentive. Mohun Bagan - now I get it - thought no end of themselves because they beat British regimental sides, but that's before we got going.

Thanks for bringing back school day memories of watching football in Delhi - Durand Cup & another tournament I cannot recall the name .

Teams from Bengal I recall - East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Mohammedan Sporting, Kidderpore ..., Port trust ( ? )

Saw them all.

Chunni Goswami of Mohun Bagan is a name that one recalls.

Besides these, there were countless teams from Goa, Punjab , Delhi , Rajsathan ( RAC) ... we watched them all.

 

[ito]

Good for games in general. Cricket is taking too much space.

By the way...this is where the finals will be held

 

[Gibbs]

Not only Kerala, but other states too. Actually the Indian Super League (ISL) is the 4th Biggest Soccer league as per viewership behind, English, German and Spanish leagues.

Well.. No surprises there given the humongous population of the country and the viewership numbers, India is the only reason that make (Well together with Pakistan and Bangladesh actually ) Cricket the second most popular sport in the world by number of followers, When only 10 countries around the world that actually play it seriously and the other 80% of the world population thinks it's a insect.. How absurd is that..

 

[Tom M]

Well.. No surprises there given the humongous population of the country and the viewership numbers, India is the only reason that make (Well together with Pakistan and Bangladesh actually ) Cricket the second most popular sport in the world by number of followers, When only 10 countries around the world that actually play it seriously and the other 80% of the world population thinks it's a insect.. How absurd is that..

Yeah true to a certain extend, but quality does matter. If the game is not upto the expectation of the spectators the championship or league will eventually fail. Therefore high viewership means some quality is there.

 

[Gibbs]

Yeah true to a certain extend, but quality does matter. If the game is not upto the expectation of the spectators the championship or league will eventually fail. Therefore high viewership means some quality is there.

Welll.. Thats subjective mate, If the quality is so good then that quality should be even minutely emulated at international level, We do not need to discuss how abysmal Indian football team is at the world stage even with probably the largest talent pool in the world, The thing is even if you have 1% of the Indian viewership for the sport that would equal probably 80% of the fan base of a mid level European or a South american side, But quality wise that side would beat the Indian national side with half eyes closed

And the other side of the spectrum you will get African leagues, Pretty much nothing compared to the Indian league in viewership and finances sponsorship wise(Easy economics larger the number of fans more sponsors vying for exposure) But quality of the soccer played Africans are at the top of the world

So numbers in domestic leagues doesn't necessarily correlate to quality

 

[protest]

Welll.. Thats subjective mate, If the quality is so good then that quality should be even minutely emulated at international level, We do not need to discuss how abysmal Indian football team is at the world stage even with probably the largest talent pool in the world, The thing is even if you have 1% of the Indian viewership for the sport that would equal probably 80% of the fan base of a mid level European or a South american side, But quality wise that side would beat the Indian national side with half eyes closed

And the other side of the spectrum you will get African leagues, Pretty much nothing compared to the Indian league in viewership and finances sponsorship wise(Easy economics larger the number of fans more sponsors vying for exposure) But quality of the soccer played Africans are at the top of the world

So numbers in domestic leagues doesn't necessarily correlate to quality

But Indian football fans do watch these other tournaments and will have a good understanding what it means to play well. So if the league doesn't match upto that standards, then the viewership will go down along with it sponsorship and viability. If ISL is still on, then there is something in it worth watching. Also, its a league so we have people from other countries palying in it just keep it interesting.