Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Meet former English Premier League genius who now helps the Pro Kabaddi League
As the Pro Kabaddi league gets bigger, the complexions are bound to rise. It’s the job of the organisers to ensure the smooth running of this league and extending it to a 3-month long competition was no easy task.
Mind you, the Kabaddi league is now officially the longest running tournament in the country. A special skill was required to help the league realise its true potential. This time last year, a man named Nic Coward was brought in.
Everyone lauds the competitive nature of the English Premier League. Well, not many know that it was Nic who worked behind the scenes to ensure this.
A former solicitor at a London firm which worked for the English FA (football association), he did his first piece of work for them in 1992. His primary role involved writing their entire constitution, rules, the way the game was run.
“In 1996, I joined the FA as their first general councillor and I stayed there till 2004. I was also interim chief executive and involved heavily in the Wembley Stadium – buying of the old Wembley, knocking it down and building the new stadium,” he told Sportskeeda.
In 2007, Nic joined as the first chief executive of the governing body of horse racing in U.K – the second biggest spectator sport in the country and a massive betting product.
“I then joined the Premier League as the General Secretory for four and half years. I was running the competition, stake holder and international relations. Youth development was a big part too,” he explained.
His stellar resume brought him to India where he now acts as a vital consultant to the Pro Kabaddi league, especially on the policy side of things – “First conversations were last summer. They anticipated an important season. I was brought in to look at all aspects in the way the league runs.
“My specific role was the player policy, working on the policy of the elite retained players. To help the clubs in their ambition to nurture young talent, giving an opportunity to thousands of players to play in the league,” he added.
Nic has been really impressed by the Women’s League as well. He reckons it’s ground-breaking stuff, but his disappointment was evident.
“They don’t get enough credit for launching it. People maybe had a negative view of Kabaddi, my job is to open their eyes.”
The former Premier League General Secretary’s main focus was the auctions which took place recently. Nic believes that for any league to grow at such an early stage, equal competition is vital, from both the team’s and fan’s perspective. He fine-tuned the auction policy before it took life.
“It’s the player policy which led to the auction. What is most important is we have 12 teams who feel they’ve had a really good opportunity to compete from match 1. Who knows who’s going to win. That’s what I intended to do.”
Apart from this, he also had to ensure new players get an opportunity to participate in the league. For any sport to grow, it’s crucial that young athletes believe that it isn’t merely a hobby but a professional job with which they can comfortably support their families.
“Understand where the PKL has come from but also understand the ambitions. Understand the available talent. This is significantly an amateur sport, moving at a rapid pace towards a professional environment. It creates interesting challenges for the league, players.”
Speaking about Pro Kabaddi aspirants, Nic emphasised that these potential PKL players have other careers. They may be supremely talented but introducing them into the league is easier said than done.
“Also recognise these are talented young men who have other careers. How do we work with that? The primary big employers. Give them the confidence so that they allow the players who wish to be part of the PKL, a big amount of time to be involved in the world’s premier Kabaddi league,” he signed off.