Live India, Love Football

For some people the media is their worst enemy.  This is true for stars who can't take a step forward without the paparazzi in their face or for those who are into some sort of scandal which the media just won't let die.  For me and many other non-celebrities, the media is our best friend. It's the medium in which we can best share our story with the world which exists beyond our Facebook friends list.  By "small timer" I do not mean less important, it means that I don't play professional sports, do not act in Hollywood (or Bollywood), am not on TV, do not have any special unique talents like singing or dancing and am not the son of some big time star which pretty much means that the media could care less about what I'm doing and could care even less about sharing what I'm doing with the public. The sad part is that there are so many others who do not fit into any of the categories above and yet they are up to big things in their lives which deser...

On Sunday night I attended an event called #I AM UNITED which was hosted by Manchester United and Airtel at the spacious Blue Frog lounge in Delhi. The purpose of the event was to bring together thousands of die-hard United supporters in India for an evening of football viewing (Manchester United vs. Swansea), drinking (open bar all night) and paying respect to one of the greatest coaches of all time (obviously Sir Alex Ferguson). From what I had heard, somewhere around 15,000 people had registered for tickets online and, in the end, only 2,500 die-hard United supporters were able to get in. I’m not a United supporter however I attended the event as a guest of the Manchester United Soccer Schools and was genuinely excited to be there as I love Blue Frog, was looking forward to watching the match and was interested in being around so many of Indians who are passionate about a club which plays its matches thousands of miles away from their country. I arrived at 7:00pm thinking...

If you are one of the 2 people who have actually followed this blog for the past few years, then you would know that I’ve been often surprised by the number of live sporting events I’ve had the opportunity to attend while living in India and the quality of my experiences while attending these events.  When I moved to Delhi I assumed that my consumption of live sports would dramatically decrease, an even if I did make it to an event, that the customer service wouldn’t compare to what I’ve experienced in the US.  Boy, was I wrong. On Friday night I attended my first IPL match. Yes, my first IPL match. It’s quite embarrassing to write this given that I work in sports marketing in India, the IPL is one of the world’s most discussed sports properties and a very close friend is heading up business operations for the Delhi Daredevils. My only weak argument is that I don’t enjoy cricket much and couldn’t imagine spending a few hours in traffic just to spend a few hours in a sta...

Outside of a greater propensity to see crazy things without being completely shocked and a slightly better handle on Hindi, I’m pretty much the same guy I was 3.5 years ago when I moved to India.  That being said, my experience of certain aspects of life has completely transformed for the better. A perfect of example of this is what happened last month when I was in Europe. Over the course of 2 weeks I had meetings with some of the top football clubs in the world which included Arsenal FC, FC Bayern Munich, Liverpool FC, Manchester City FC and  Manchester United FC . I’ve had meetings with each of these clubs at their offices in the past, however my experience this time around was completely unique. Back in 2010 when I first started setting up meetings in Europe as a representative from India, I was merely a beggar.  Even through solid contacts I had to fight and claw to get 45 minutes with someone from one of these football giants. And even during these meetin...

A lot of words could be used to describe what it’s like to live in India: adventurous, exotic, spiritual, frustrating, confusing, etc… but one word I rarely use is relaxing.  Even when I wake up, do yoga, meditate, eat a healthy breakfast, write and then head out of my house with a completely clear mind I find myself losing my head within minutes as a couple pigs will be rushing at me, 2 dogs will be chasing them, an auto driver will be fighting a rickshaw driver while both trying to get business from me and multiple families of 5 on motorcycles will come inches from death as they weave through the zoo which is ironically known as a “quiet upscale suburban oasis.” Add to that, I am an American who grew up in the sleepy Orange County, CA town of Fountain Valley who now works as a consultant in the complex Indian football industry. So needless to say, it’s nothing short of necessary for me to get away for a few weeks a year to disconnect from everything. I used to hate the ter...

I feel like every long time football administrator has some special firsts: first FIFA World Cup experience, first time watching a big derby match, first trip to a developing country to run a CSR program, first time meeting a football legend and first time attending Soccerex.  Up until a few weeks ago, I had completed all of my firsts except the least obvious one which is attending Soccerex.  While at MLS it didn’t make sense to send a Director to the UK, Africa or South America when there were so many people who worked above me. In India it’s a totally different story.  Not only do I have the opportunity to attend Soccerex, my organization leads a delegation of influential Indians to Manchester each year to represent the Indian football industry at this event which happens to be the largest football networking event in the  world. My organization, Libero Sports, and our partners the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) led a group of...

I am truly blessed.  I don’t know why or how, but my life is blessed with great people and incredible, unexpected experiences.  I knew many weeks back that I would be travelling to Manchester, UK in April for Soccerex.  Prior to booking my flight I checked the EPL fixtures and was happy to see that the Manchester Derby was taking place on the evening of the 8 th . So rather than getting in on the 9 th as originally planned, I decided to get into Manchester on the 8 th just so I could be in the city while the derby was going on, to be a part of the excitement. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I was going to be in Old Trafford watching the match versus seeing it from some crowded central  Manchester pub. About 2 weeks before I flew to Manchester, I met MUSS India head coach Chris O’Brien in Delhi. As soon as he found out that I would be in Manchester on the 8 th he asked if I wanted a ticket. My heart started pumping because I never thought in my wildes...

Anyone who knows me well also knows that I enjoy telling people about those things which touch, move or inspire me.  My Angels Academy – a beautifully effective and impactful football program run for slum kids in Vikaspuri (West Delhi) is certainly something which touches me, moves me AND inspires me.  Any reader of this blog would know how much I love this place as I’ve written about my wonderful experiences visiting the slum many times in the past. Anyway, the other day I was sitting at the Budweiser 6v6 Cup Regional event in Delhi enjoying a Budweiser and watching some of the matches with my friends at Total Football – a media group which promotes Indian football through webisodes.  While soaking up the sun and amateur, but exciting, football matches, I felt compelled to tell Total Football’s founder, Akshay, all about how great My Angels Academy is. It just so happened that he had been searching for a development program like this to showcase the transformative...