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Three measures to develop football
(May 16, 2004)
Despite
the growth of the ANFA Academy and scores of football
tournaments, Nepal still lags far behind the rest of
Asia and embarrassingly South Asia. Though I don’t
take the results too seriously, the SAF Games
definitely proved that Nepal is not in the top echelon
of countries in the region. We are probably only ahead
of Afghanistan and Bhutan at the moment.
So
what does ANFA need to do to turn it around? Here
would be my first 3 steps:
Encourage
private football clubs and set standards for clubs
wishing to participate in ANFA sponsored leagues and
cups.
Clubs will not spend on infrastructure or marketing
ventures unless they are run like real businesses.
Right now all the clubs in Nepal are social
organizations and thus there is no financial
motivation for club officials to invest in their
sides. Most Nepali clubs do the minimum required to
participate in tournaments. The only way to change
this is by setting higher standards in terms of pay,
marketing, infrastructure, youth academy, etc.
Expand
league football to all corners of the country.
Take the top 6 ML teams and combine them with 1 team
each from Pokhara, Nepalgunj, Biratnagar and Birgunj
(The four cities with the best footballing
infrastructure currently) and make that the 1st
division. The next 4 ML teams and 1 team each from
Butwal, Dharan, Jhapa (pick a city), Janakpur, Hetauda,
Chitwan (Bharatpur) and make that the 2nd division.
Play games on a home and away basis. All the rest of
the clubs in Nepal would play in a knockout tournament
with the winner gaining promotion to the 2nd division.
Eventually, you could add a 3rd division or expand the
first two divisions. ML would become obsolete.
Create
a system to send Nepali players to foreign leagues.
A big problem Nepali players have is that they are too
used to domestic football and are like a deer in
headlights when playing international football. ANFA
needs to setup a system where Nepal’s top players
are given a chance to showcase their talents to
foreign clubs. One idea would be to take Nepal’s top
young players to Kolkata, Dhaka, Bangkok, Singapore,
etc. and setup a program for clubs there to watch,
evaluate and hopefully sign Nepali talent. Another suggestion is to
simply send our best players to train with clubs in
those places and hope they impress enough to be given
a contract.
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Three measures |
Props to NRT & BBC for websites
(May 2, 2004)
For those of us not
fortunate enough to be at Dasarath Rangasala to catch
the Martyr's League, the Internet is pretty much our
only bastion of salvation. The various Nepali news
websites and the two prominent soccer portals have
done a decent job covering the league. To be honest it
was a bit better last year.
Unfortunately,
the majority of Nepali football clubs have yet to
discover the information super highway. Unless they
are hidden in the deep corners of the world wide web, BBC
and NRT are the only two teams to have any sort of
internet presence.
NRT
deserves lots of credit for their initiative. Their
website includes results from the ongoing Martyr's League
as well as photos of the team and those of their entire
coaching and playing squad. They have also used it as a
way of giving their sponsors more exposure. Most
importantly they have provided a link to NepalSport.com
Nepali
clubs need to really take advantage of the Internet to
grow their fan base, market their club, and generate
revenue.
Club spending
at a record high
(April 25, 2004)
This
years Martyr’s League will go down as the most expensive
ever. While the winners purse has marginally increased,
club spending is at a record level. Nepal is actually one
of the few nations that has avoided the global downturn in
the football markets. Obviously it has much more to do
with Nepal’s isolation from the footballing world than
anything else, but let’s forget reality for the sake of
this piece.
Nepali
clubs need to be given credit for splashing the cash.
Their revenues are no better than in previous years, yet
the egos of their benefactors has ballooned immensely and
thus the spending sprees of clubs like Jawalakhel, Three
Star, Friends Club and New Road Team. Why the sudden rush
to pump money into football clubs? From afar it is
difficult to say, but undoubtedly the proliferation of
satellite television and the abundance of football
programming from abroad has given patrons of Nepal’s top
clubs the zeal to emulate their counterparts across Asia
and Europe.
Raising
players’ salary is a great first step. Many more
footballers will now look to play past their mid-20’s
knowing that there is money to be had in the sport. Clubs
need to go much further though. They need to focus on
marketing and infrastructure as well. That way they will
not have to count solely on generous donations from rich
supporters, but can be self-sufficient and compete with
clubs across the continent.
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