The Hindu reports that the National Football League will be revamped. It was launched with much gutso 10 years ago but lost steam midway. Football got a new lease of life with intentions shown to maximise the crowd power the game commands. Zee Sports was brave enough to take a long term contract.

Now comes the news that steps will be take to restructure the league itself. The right noises are being made:

Addressing a press conference at the AIFF headquarters in Dwaraka, the general secretary of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Dato Peter Velappan, categorically stated that the NFL had been professional only in name so far. Reiterating that the health of the country’s football was dependent on the quality of the clubs, Velappan said that India should stop calling substandard foreign players for the league for the next five years as the country had enough talent that deserved to be developed.

Indian football has a strong base in Goa and Bengal. There is the strong rivalry between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. When more than 100,000 people attend a game between the two clubs at the Salt Club Stadium, Calcutta, you know that there is potential to tap in sponsors. Kingfisher came and went a few years ago but the changes now look more steady.

There is a need to do away with a lot of unnecessary football teams play. A Calcutta club has to play it’s city league, millions of Cup matches. Plus the players play in the state level Durand Cup. Quantity is existant rather than quality. A strong structure is needed. Fan base is already there. The national interest creation is a bit difficult though. You cannot expect interest levels to reach the level which cricket enjoys before the National team starts performing.

However, proper packaging and format can at least be the driver which fuels influx of money. This money, if goes into proper channels, can result in improvement of over all standards. So the trigger which would fuel Indian football to an upward growth trend has been been shot. The growth would be slow as you cannot expect miracles. At least the effort is there for improving standards as the potential seems to be finally understood in quarters which matter.