ISL: Decoding Pele's India visits – 1977 and 2015

Even as the land of Bengal begins its Mahalaya celebrations, the homecoming of Goddess Durga, the fervent passion around the festival seems matched only by their love for football.

A lot has changed over the years, even in a city which lives within a time capsule. Eden Gardens no longer holds football games, Communism exists only in the history books and East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting are no longer the only major stakeholders in Kolkata football.

For Mohun Bagan supporters, Pele brings back memories of what many claim to be their best performance on a football pitch – holding a star-studded New York Cosmos side to a 2-2 draw.

There is an irony about his visit, however, one that boldly states the direction Indian football is taking currently. 

The Mariners may have suffered a similarly humbling defeat against their arch-rivals in the Calcutta Football League last month. This time, though, Bagan, along with the rest of the I-League clubs, are facing a much more serious problem – India’s premier football league, and the clubs, are battling for survival. And Pele isn't here to help them this time around.

The Brazilian great is here to promote the Indian Super League franchise Atletico de Kolkata, and will be present in the VIP box of the Salt Lake Stadium to witness the defending champions’ first home match of ISL-2.0– against last year’s runners-up Kerala Blasters.

From a 124-year-old establishment like Mohammedan Sporting to newly formed Bharat FC, a host of clubs are on the verge of shutting down. There are also unconfirmed reports that India's oldest and the world’s third-oldest football tournament, the Durand Cup, is to be scrapped due to lack of interest from sponsors. 

The Durand Cup will join other tournaments with long tradition like the Rovers Cup, Federation Cup and DCM Trophy which have all been removed from the calendar. A sign of changing times indeed.

Indian Super League is striving to do what Pele did back then. Bring in the stars, invest in grassroots, kindle interest among fans, and most importantly investors. Questions, however, remain about the order in which the following have been prioritized.

Pele is convinced about what should come at the top of the list, for the betterment of Indian football. The World Cup winner said, "You have to start working at the base. You have to give chance to players to go abroad and play from where they can gather experience. They can then come here and share their experiences. But firstly you have to support the base.”

He also didn't seem to have any doubts about who can do that. “Oh yes! ISL can improve Indian football, no doubt about it," quipped the legend.

When the league started out, IMG sold the idea of ISL mostly on the fact that it will force the franchises to invest on youth development programs. While Nita Ambani did grab the headlines at the launch of “Reliance Foundation Young Champs”, the ISL clubs are yet to match the sell, which was initially promised.

As Pele grabs all the eyeballs at the Salt-Lake Stadium tomorrow, India will quietly play Oman at Muscat. While the ISL is broadcast in five different languages, across eight television channels, the only place where you could get any idea of the India v Turkmenistan match was the AIFF twitter handle.

Questions have been raised on social media, about why and how ISL is hindering India's World Cup Qualifying campaign, but now those questions have been buried under awe-stricken tweets and posts about Pele's visit.

Football has a wicked sense of humour, eh?