Messi Tamasha vs Empty Stadiums: How Indian Football Lost Its Way

The orphan of the Indian sports, football is starved of money, while a whooping Rs. 150 crore was frittered away on the showcase tour of Argentine football legend Lionel Messi. What the Indian sports lovers love is not the game but its glamour, the football authorities running the show believe so. The Indian Super League (ISL)—country’s premier domestic football competition, which reportedly operates on a budget of around Rs 30 crore per season—has been deserted—not a single match took place this year.

Lionel Messi’s Tour, a multi-city spectacle with Bollywood stars, cricketers and politicians joining it just to rub shoulders with the football star, was just tamasha. The tour was touted as a big event for Indian football but it turned into chaos at Kolkata, with the VIP clowns raising a wall around the star, depriving the onlookers on the benches an eagerly-awaited look of him.

First Draft spoke to some former players and AIFF officials to have their opinions on the visit. They strongly criticised the whole event, saying that the government and the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) should have acted sensibly.  

“I see absolutely no logic or rationale in bringing Messi to India at a time when our domestic football is in an urgent need of monetary support. The show was a mere photo op for Bollywood stars, politicians and cricketers. It did not serve any purpose. I simply fail to understand how Rs 150 crores was spent on an event which had no agenda to help Indian football. Don't forget that the ISL –the edifice of domestic football, has not been played so far,” said Arnab Chakraborty, who had been associated with AIFF for a long time.  

 The cost of holding the ISL was just a fraction of the Messi show extravaganza. And yet, there was absolutely no response from the government, even to get the warring factions of the ISL to come together and patch up. After all, Rs 30 crore to conduct an entire season of ISL is not such a big amount, there are no takers for domestic football. It is a very sad state of affairs for Indian football,” he further said.

Shantanu Haldar, who has represented West Bengal in the game, said that people forget how badly non-starting of the ISL had hurt the football players. “The ISL impasse has resulted in more than 300 of the country’s leading football players going unemployed and not receiving a single paisa for their wages. It is painful to see the mindless splurge of money on a three-day Messi spectacle, when there was no money to pay the domestic footballers’ dues, where is Indian football heading to?  he asked.

When told that the Messi tour was a private trip, and the AIFF had not much role to play in it, he brushed off this argument. “The AIFF may not be directly involved, but we all know without the AIFF’s backing there can't be any football show in India. I know the names of AIFF officials who had a hand in bringing Messi to India. But there is no point in revealing their names now.  The damage has already been done,” he said. 

First Draft got in touch with the AIFF as well. When queried whether the football body had a role in bringing Messi to India, a spokesperson of the body said, “We have absolutely no role in bringing Messi to India. It was purely a private affair, but yes, we were intimated about his coming to India a couple of months ago. I have nothing more to add to this,” the spokesperson added.

Brand Guru Harish Bijur had a different take on it. He said the Messi visit for three days could garner Rs. 150 crores proved that the Indian public yearned to see stars and that football was a very popular sport in the country. “I always thought that in India people paid through the roof only to watch the cricketers. The Messi trip has clearly shown that the fans would shell out big money –not necessarily for the Indian football but to catch a glimpse of international stars, he said.

Indian football legend Bhaichung Bhutia concurs with him but he faults the football federation. “Football is still very popular but the footballing federation is in the wrong hands. He felt that the current crop of AIFF leadership led by its boss Kalyan Chaubey had proved that they were incompetent to handle the crisis which was afflicting Indian football. He (Kalyan) has proved that he is inept when it comes to handling a crisis situation. I think it is the time AIFF gets a more active and pro player president in the saddle,” said Bhutia.