Behind the scenes – The beginning of Baljit Rihal
Growing up in Southall (West London) had its own perks. There were a lot of places I could go play football, parks and sports centres, and there with my football mad friends, I fell in love with the game. I was quite good at it too, and I captained my middle school team and when you’re 10 years old, it is the best feeling in the world.
Football was definitely my first love, but growing up I played a bit of cricket and took part in athletics, I was quite good in both. Sports was my thing, I was good at it, and it helped me make more friends. My school, North Road, had one of the best teams in the borough, and I was proud to represent them.
I continued playing for my high school in Ealing and got into the first-team, subsequently got a shot at the county level trials. But, in the long run, I never thought of football as a career, and probably in the hindsight, it was a good decision as I definitely didn’t have the talent to make it as a professional.
After high school, I stopped playing football for a while and then immersed myself in playing five a side football for over 15 years with friends on a recreational basis. But, my passion for football was never compromised. Due to increased pressure on my time, I haven’t played for about 4 years now, probably will start playing again sometime soon, as a striker of course!
The first team I ever supported as a kid was Chelsea, partly due to the fact that I couldn’t get a Nottingham Forest shirt like my older brothers in a smaller size. With a slight peer group pressure diversion during my school years (I won’t mention the team), I started taking an avid interest in Chelsea football club (pre-Abramovich for those thinking it was the silverware that lured me back).
The football bug really kicked in during a chance meeting the then Chelsea CEO Peter Kenyon at the Chelsea Asian Star event in 2009. Knowing my Indian heritage and the potential of Asian fans to the Premier League as a brand, he asked me how clubs could attract more Asians into the grounds and also into playing football.
That was how the seeds of Inventive Sports were laid, and how we began our journey. We hosted community initiatives with Chelsea and QPR in a bid to attract more Asian youngsters into the game.
Then in 2012, I founded the Asian Football Awards. This was hosted at Wembley Stadium and was supported by the FA. It was the first event of its kind and was aimed at celebrating the contribution of British Asians to the football industry. I found myself thrust into the media spotlight talking about Asians in Football with an appearance on Sky Sports News live.
The awards have grown in stature since and are covered heavily by mainstream media channels across the globe. It is a testament to the growth of the awards that shall be holding its 4th instalment in November this year.
My first connection with Indian football was in 2012 when I had a meeting with IMG when I was looking for sponsorship for the Asian Football Awards. That is when I first heard of the idea of the Indian Super League, and I was instantly sold on it, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Progressively, I started following Indian football a lot more, I began reading blogs by Arunava Chaudhari and Chris Daniel and started following the I-League.
In the meantime, I became a licensed FA Football Agent. I actually took the exam (it was very hard – only 14% of people who took it passed)… and thankfully I passed!! Unfortunately for me, this qualification became defunct in 2015 – when FIFA introduced intermediaries, but I am still proud to say that I did it the hard way and learnt my stuff. I also obtained my UEFA and FIFA match agent license.
During the first ISL, I facilitated the move to get former Premier League striker Michael Chopra into the ISL. And all this through my IMG contact a couple of phone calls and it all happened in a flash, smooth, and the next thing I’m being interviewed by British media about the new Indian Super League – a very surreal experience indeed.
That was my first deal with the franchise, a fruitful relationship which continues till today.
Until the next time, Goodbye, Namaste, Salaam, Sat Sri Akal.