In the unprecedented times of live sports being disrupted by the Coronavirus pandemic, the smooth conduct of the just-concluded Indian Super League (ISL) in Goa is a laudable achievement of the organisers. Running for four full months, the tournament is the first major long-format live sporting event to be held in the country and gives hope to other sports that are preparing to begin their full calendar in these challenging times.
The ISL organisers, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), had to meticulously plan to pull off the event with stringent health and safety protocols, setting up 18 bio-bubbles across 14 hotels in the State, involving 1600 people and conducting close to 70000 RT-PCR tests on them. This meant that they were tested nearly 50 times, every three days for over five months. Remarkably, there were zero positive results.
Sourav Ganguly, the boss of the country’s cricket board, has called the ISL a benchmark for other sports to follow. The BCCI president knows all too well about the challenges of organising big-ticket live sport in bio-secure bubbles. The cricket board had pulled off the Indian Premier League in September-November last year but it was held outside India in UAE with the help of outsourced expertise. The cricket board allowed fans back in the stadium with 50 per cent capacity for the Test and T20I series against England but has been forced to hold the remaining matches in Ahmedabad behind closed doors in Ahmedabad due to a surge in Coronavirus cases in that State. The return of the spectators to the stadium “ over 50,000 in the newly built largest cricket stadium in the world in Motera “ had brought much cheer to the cricket world, but with the situation going back to square one, it poses more questions than answers to the cricket bosses with a big question mark over fan attendance in the upcoming IPL, which begins on April 9.
In this context, it becomes clear why Ganguly has high praise for the football league. The ISL also put Goa in focus as the single-venue host of the tournament that had 115 matches played across three stadiums in the State. The FSDL invested big money in creating infrastructure at eight training pitches for the clubs and refurbishing the three main venues “ Nehru Stadium at Fatorda, GMC Stadium at Bambolim and Tilak Maidan in Vasco. The refurbishment of these pitches is a big gain for footballers in the State, who are looking to follow in the footsteps of their Goan heroes, who are shining brightly in the ISL.
Besides the gains on the field, the ISL has also helped the State brand itself as the foremost venue for football in the country with the Asian Football Confederation awarding the hosting rights of group matches of the top-tier Champions League to Goa. The arrival of the best of the continental club football to these shores is the cherry on the cake for Goa.
