‘Enthusiasm for football in India at all-time high’

Panaji: Does Shrinivas Dempo see a turnaround in the way football in the country is viewed and perceived?
Seated in his fourth-floor glass-walled office overlooking Mandovi, the Dempo group of companies chairman appears to enjoy some crystal gazing.
He is warm, accommodating and quietly optimistic. Some of this is derived from a simple newspaper advertisement and the response it got.Advertising for a chief of operations and event co-ordinator for the Goa franchise of Indian Super League (ISL), of which he is a co-owner along with Dattaraj Salgaocar and Videocon, he was floored with the response.
“One advertisement for jobs fetched us nearly 300 applications from young people who graduated from good marketing schools. That’s the kind of buzz that is there ahead of the ISL. People are already following the ISL,” said Dempo, who also owns Dempo Sports Club, a team which competes in the I-League, India’s premier football competition.
It’s not just the response from MBA graduates jostling for positions at the Goa franchise which has got Dempo excited.
“Such enthusiasm I have not seen even before when the I-League was launched. We finally have hope that the commercialization of football may happen. There is backing from such large parties like IMG, Reliance and Star TV, and the news we are getting is that the coverage will be world class.
“For the I-League, despite us negotiating and sitting across the table, the (coverage) has not taken off. There is some improvement but not to the extent what fans would like,” said Dempo.
Even on the financial front, the ISL provides far better, and richer opportunities, said Dempo, vice president of the All India Football Federation.
“There is high level of interest among sponsors, which is unlike what we have seen in the I-League. I was among the first to explore sponsorships for my team and was even willing to provide the front of the team shirt. But when we went to respectable corporate entities, there was no response. They all wondered what their level of return would be.
“In fact, we were even looking at sponsors of Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore but what we were offered were Rs 10-15 lakh. That sum was not even enough to cover the cost of one player,” said Dempo.
The Goa franchise would be launched on August 26 -- four months after they were allotted a franchise -- at a city hotel, and even though Goa has taken some time to present itself on the big stage, Dempo believes the wait has been worthwhile.
“We wanted to do a systematic job with the name, mascot, logo, sponsorship and kitting. These are all creative things and with three owners involved, each one has his own idea. Everything that we do will symbolize the philosophy of the state and the people involved,” he said.
At next week’s launch, Goa will unveil its name, logo, kit, and quite possibly even the manager, likely to be Steve Clarke, formerly assistant to Jose Mourinho at Chelsea FC and last worked at Premiership side West Brom.
There is talk that Virat Kohli has been asked to come on board as ambassador, although neither Dempo nor any other official was willing to stick his neck out and confirm the agreement. With the kind of form the cricketing superstar finds himself in at the moment in England, may be it’s wise to keep everyone guessing.