Sports Management: Study over the

problems in the grassroot of Indian Football

Name: Soumik Paul

Roll: 29405019003
Class: BBA 6th Semester
Batch: 2019 – 2022

Future Institute of Engineering and Management

Mentor: Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya

What is “Sports Management”?
Sport management is the field of business that focuses directly on sports and
recreation. Many different subjects are incorporated into sports management
such as administration, finance, law and ethics.

1. Introduction:
Former football captain Bhaichung Bhutia once said on the need to focus on
grassroots development in order to make an India a force to reckon with at the
Asian level.
Bhutia explained that by focussing on the long-term goal of strengthening the
grass roots, Indian football will be able reap its benefits at the Asian level and
the world stage.
"We need to produce good quality players. That's very important, when I say
that I don't mean we don't have good players now. But in order to compete in
Asia and at the world level we need to produce bigger better players from the
grassroots," Bhutia said during a social media live session with the All-
Indian Football Federation (AIFF).

2. Comparative Study on the problems

facing Indian Football:
2.1 Lack of infrastructure
One of the major problems in Indian football is the absence of infrastructure.
Whether it’s proper stadiums or training grounds, the sport is severely lacking
in a lot of areas. Most I-League venues are multi-purpose stadiums and need
major refurbishment to be ready for the 2017 Under-17 global football
tournament. A majority of the venues either belong to the state government
or local municipalities, and not to the football clubs. It goes without saying
then that they are not maintained properly and are frequently made available
for public shows and concerts. Because of these poor facilities, the senior
national team often has to go abroad to prepare for international tournaments
and even the under-23 side will be training in a foreign country ahead of this
year’s Asian Games.

2.2 Slow youth development

The lack of adequate youth development programs has been holding back
Indian football for more than four decades now. Although the AIFF has tried to
change that in the recent past by starting regional academies, the progress has
been slow especially compared to some of the higher-ranked Asian countries.
The I-League clubs should also take much of the blame for this as most of them
still don’t even have academies, with some clubs only assembling youth teams
a few weeks before any tournament rather than running them throughout the
year. Age fraud also continues to overshadow many youths’ tournament.

2.3 Unprofessionalism of clubs

One of the main reasons why the I-League hasn’t been made a separate legal
entity is that the clubs don’t have their own house in order. Proof of that came
last year when all participating clubs failed in the AFC club licensing test. Pune
FC eventually got the national license but that too only on appeal. Some of the
clubs have taken the AFC club licensing criteria seriously in the last 12 months
but plenty of progress still has to be made on and off the pitch; there is still no
I-League club that plays their matches in their own stadium. There are also
instances every season of clubs not paying their players on time, with some
dues not being cleared for seasons.

2.4 Absence of a football culture

Because of the four factors listed above, football in India is still not considered
a serious profession. Although the sport is very well followed in the country, a
recent survey revealed that less than 6% of the football viewing population
watches domestic football. Even in places like Kolkata whose football history is
rich, cricket has become a more viable option than football due to the lack of
opportunities at the top level. Kids play football seriously at school and college
level but then there is a huge vacuum after that as there are not enough clubs
and the platform of the I-League is neither big nor attractive enough. Perhaps
the Indian Super League will change that.
3. Literature Review:

Through this study, the researchers aim to highlight the significance of

grassroots sports development in India. To identify the important stakeholders
and their role by creating a collaborative framework ensuring a sustainable
grassroots sports eco-system. The overall objective is to recognize the
challenges impacting grassroots sports development, identifying the relevant
stakeholders, and the importance of collaboration to help create a sustainable
grassroots sports eco-system. In addition, we have explored grassroots sports
initiatives in other countries with the effectiveness of relevant stakeholders
involved. Finally, this study proposes a collaboration framework for effective
grassroots sports development initiative in India.

4. Objectives of Studies:

• To study the field of Sports management.

• To study the problems in grassroots of Indian Football.

5. Research Methodology:

This is a descriptive research design where we are going to collect data through
survey method