The other side of Indian Super League
This is something that is written in the Wikipedia page of ISL (Indian Super League) on the web. Why I am stating this? Read on to know why.
Currently in its third season the ISL is running in full fledged form and is possibly the most watched domestic football league in the country.
But what I want to talk about in this article is the side of ISL that has impacted the domestic football freestylers.
First I would like to share my personal experience that I had while doing a show for Delhi Dynamos FC, the official Delhi team for the tournament.
To be honest it was not at all a proper show or anything of that sort, also I had gone in there as a substitute for someone. The nature of the performance was that of an open road promotional activity. It was in front of a mall and the owner was kind enough to let us take rest inside whenever we felt like it.
It was almost a full day work, from around 10 in the morning to 5 in the evening. The performances were okay, the crowd was not that much. Still it was not an excruciating experience for me as I had not done many performances then and was happy to just perform.
I was paid almost half of what I deserved. And it was the only single time I got to perform for them. Yes! 3 years of Indian Super League and I have performed only once. HAHA
Getting back to the point now.
So it would be almost useless of me trying to explain to you what or how ISL has impacted us freestylers as I do not have a lot of experience of working with them. I can try and make point but then you will say that you are saying this only because you don’t get to perform(so mean you people are).
Hence, I went ahead and asked Chaitanya Deshpande, one of India’s most popular football freestyler. He had done quite a few performances for ISL over 3 years.Here’s what he had to say -
ISL was good in the first season. But not all freestylers get an opportunity to perform. And also, this time the budget and organization was very poor. It is definitely not living up to its expectations. First 2 seasons were good as compared to this one. And also ISL duration is just for 3 months. So it is helping just a few freestylers and that too for a very short period of time.
Also he expressed his sadness over the fact that much of the crowd comes to see the celebrities(Bollywood ones not the international players) and not the match itself.
So to sum it up, although ISL has provided a selective few with somewhat increased opportunities for a short period of time here are some of the points it can work upon-
- The first two seasons were good compared to the third one. The promotional activities are going down meaning less opportunities for us.
- The people are not even interested in football matches completely leave aside our freestyle. Something has to be done to differentiate between the sports part of this league and the celebrity part.
- Stop calling people from outside, if you can get the same performance from people living within the country(from a freestyler perspective).
Maybe this article will find its way in the right hands. We should not be heavily dependent on such an exclusive event feature, but its presence raises the hopes of opportunities among many people.
I don’t know how much I can change but an effort is worth the try.
