Indian Super League

[kaustav]

Great news...It actually destined and divined as Kolkata has always been the home of Indian football for years...How come Chennaiyan or Kerala can beat Kolkata in football? No way..They will keep on winning the ISl I believe...

Good to see Kolkata is keeping IPL and ISL both this year...Congrats

[karr]

Congratulations indeed to Kolkata for taking the inaugural version of the ISL. Indeed a nice story - as Kaustav says, its a feel good to see a traditional power lift a new era tournament.
For me though, more than any one team winning, its the ISL itself that's a success story here. Jay has often lamented that Indian Football (and extension most sports really) are moribund as very few Indian kids play these sports seriously. I agree a fair bit with him - we need to have critical mass and it really starts with kids developing a fancy for the sport. To me the ISL has nudged that needle in the right direction. From most reports, the league was well attended and viewed - both stadium and TV support has been very reasonable and perhaps better than anticipated. Media coverage has been excellent. The actual fare on the grounds has looked way better than anything that Indian football generally has to offer and the players made some reasonable dough - that seems like a nice eco-system that can hopefully sustain itself and continue growing. We might finally have the very beginnings of a system that can naturally and automatically keep growing and in time made Indian football relevant, atleast in Asia. I am sure more kids will get to play the game when they see quality fare on TV, in the grounds, and when they hear their friends and media speak about it.
I wish the ISL season was longer - the rest of the domestic season is in any case a waste of time OR pretty close to being one. I hope that in years to come, the ISL season grows and with it, hopefully the sports itself can.

[suresh]

ISL tickets were cheap and that ensured that many kids went to watch the matches.

[Omkara]

ISL tickets were cheap and that ensured that many kids went to watch the matches.

This was indeed the reason and rightly so. I once tried booking but it said "sold out".

[PKBasu]

Yes I think the ISL is a net positive for Indian football, although it would have been better if the season was longer. (The advantage of the short season, though, is that many quality players can play the ISL on loan from other leagues). The rest of Indian football now needs to be geared to feed into the ISL as the pinnacle of the system. So a good Mohun Bagan or Dempo player should be aspiring to get an ISL contract, and I-League should end just before ISL starts. Somehow, the local leagues should also be made to feed into the I-League. Over time, hopefully the ISL will grow and last longer than 6 weeks, while the other feeder leagues gradually shrivel...

[kaustav]

Mohun Bagan has won the I league by beating Bengalaru FC...After the inaugural Indian Super League won by Atlateco De Kolkata now again Kolkata is ruling the Indian football scenario

[kaustav]

Heartiest Congratulation to Mohun Bagan..The pride of Kolkata

[PKBasu]

Pleasant surprise that Mohun Bagan managed to win the I-League this year -- I think for the first time in 13 years. The team I used to support as a kid seemed to have gone into terminal decline -- so it's nice to know things aren't quite that bad, and in fact seem to be looking up!!

[suresh]

Dempo got relegated -- what happened? I don't follow the ISL.

[Omkara]

Pleasant surprise that Mohun Bagan managed to win the I-League this year -- I think for the first time in 13 years. The team I used to support as a kid seemed to have gone into terminal decline -- so it's nice to know things aren't quite that bad, and in fact seem to be looking up!!

Even I was pleasantly surprised seeing the fan following in fb. It looked bigger than world cup win

[kaustav]

Pleasant surprise that Mohun Bagan managed to win the I-League this year -- I think for the first time in 13 years. The team I used to support as a kid seemed to have gone into terminal decline -- so it's nice to know things aren't quite that bad, and in fact seem to be looking up!!

Even I was pleasantly surprised seeing the fan following in fb. It looked bigger than world cup win

Yes the the entire city of Kolkata flooded with Green Maroon color( Mohun Bagan jersey) and the hysteria shows how much the city love the game of football... Happy to see Kolkata started dominating Indian scenario and Goa faded away..Dempo relegation is a big setback for Goa...

[Omkara]

Though happy that a Kolkata, I would like Goa flourish. Any way there are handful of pockets that have craze for football.

[PKBasu]

Dempo got relegated -- what happened? I don't follow the ISL.

suresh, this is the I-League we are referring to, not the ISL

The ISL is the football/soccer version of the IPL, with many international stars (like Alessandro Piero) playing for the teams, and very few Indian players involved. The quality of play approaches world class (or like the lower-level EPL or Bundesliga teams).

Mohun Bagan won the I-League this year -- the national club championship of India, which has been around for about 15 years or so now (while ISL started last year). Some foreign players are involved in the I-League too, but most of the club teams primarily comprise Indian players and the traditional clubs of India play (rather than the newly created teams of the ISL, which had its inaugural season last year).

[suresh]

LOL! I thought that I-league got renamed to ISL or something like that.

[kaustav]

Dempo got relegated -- what happened? I don't follow the ISL.

suresh, this is the I-League we are referring to, not the ISL

The ISL is the football/soccer version of the IPL, with many international stars (like Alessandro Piero) playing for the teams, and very few Indian players involved. The quality of play approaches world class (or like the lower-level EPL or Bundesliga teams).

Mohun Bagan won the I-League this year -- the national club championship of India, which has been around for about 15 years or so now (while ISL started last year). Some foreign players are involved in the I-League too, but most of the club teams primarily comprise Indian players and the traditional clubs of India play (rather than the newly created teams of the ISL, which had its inaugural season last year).

Here he comes again...The old father of this forum ( Grand father is permanent... its Jay :P ) shared his knowledge once again...As a ardent Mohun Bagan supporter kudos to him