ISL 2017: 5 things that must improve for the league to succeed in the long run
The Hero Indian Super League has completely changed the landscape of football in India. The league was launched with an intention of bringing professionalism into the horizon of Indian football and to spread the beautiful game to every part of the country.
Football has always been popular in some parts of India but the level at which the game has been played in the country has always been a point of concern. The clouds of uncertainty and inconsistency have always wandered over the game's future in the country.
While the ISL is a big positive step forward, there are still some potholes that remain in the newly constructed roadmap for football to flourish in India. Let us have a look at five things that should improve if the league has to succeed in the country and if Indian football has to match world-class standards:
#5 The Nature of Pitches
One of the things that determine the speed and tempo of a football game is the pitch and the quality of grass on the surface. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa, popularly known as the Fatorda stadium has been a home to some epic encounters in the past. But the pace at which those games were played was quite slow.
Not just Fatorda, this is the 'ground reality' of most of the stadiums in the country. The pitches in these ground are not favouable for a fast-paced game as the field affects the quality of passes.
The speed at which football is played in India is nowhere near to the speed of games in some of the bigger leagues in the world. To enhance the speed, it is essential to improve the playing conditions.