Live India, Love Football

The Indian football landscape has transformed over the past 2 years and the Premier League has certainly woken up to the power of this country.   Not only has India proven to the world that it loves and appreciates global football, the industry has finally figured out how to welcome and accommodate large profile foreign football programming hosted on its soil. The past few days are a perfect example of this. Thanks to our relationship with the Asian Development Football Project and our association with the ONE GOAL campaign we were invited to be a part of the Barclays Premier League Live event. The event, organized by the Premier League, was intended to bring the excitement of the world’s most popular league directly to the global football community.   The whole experience was positive and a privilege for any football supporter or administrator to attend.   The event started with a 4 hour workshop offered to the Indian football community where Premier League man...

I have a new pastime, but I’m not sure how happy I am about it.   Let me explain. So for some reason every time I see a half marathon advertised in a destination in India I’ve not travelled to, I immediately feel compelled to register for it. I’m not exactly sure what it is, I guess the thought of running 21km through a foreign city seems adventurous, exotic and something which makes me sound much cooler than I really am.   The “slightly unfortunate” bit comes in as there are certainly pros and cons to travelling to a destination to run a marathon. Some of the pros include, getting the opportunity to run through many of the landmarks of a particular city, the admiration on the faces of the hotel staff when you share that you have come to their city to run 21km and feeling connected to the people of the city while giving high fives along the run.   The cons include not being able to stay out late, eat the city’s best junk food or drink too much any of the nights lead...

For the past 30 years, football has not only been my favorite activity, it has served as my passion, my profession and my access to experience the world.   I have deep gratitude to existence for wiring my internal software in a way which allows me to enjoy and excel at this game both on and off the pitch.   Now I feel that I’m entering a new phase in my life. Maybe I’m expanding, maybe I’m evolving, maybe I’m just open to something new.   Those who have been reading this blog over the years would know that sometime around early 2011 I became interested in exploring spiritual aspects of life through prayer, yoga, meditation and personal growth. This search continued over the past few years and has created a gateway into the mystique, a dimension where only time and space exist.   Now I’ve arrived at this extraordinary crossroad where on one side I see the enriching and always exciting world of sport and on the other side I see a blissful path towards self-gr...

The other day I was invited to Sagar School in Rajasthan to serve as the “Chief Guest” for the students’ inter-house athletics competition.     I happily accepted as it’s hard to refuse the intriguing combination of an Indian road trip and speaking to hundreds of youth about sports.   I roped in two of my colleagues to come with me as roadtrips are certainly more fun with others and we made the couple hour journey to the Alwar district of Rajasthan. Now I must say that Sagar School is not just any school, it’s a 180 acre resort tucked in the middle of nowhere housing around 400 students and staff who have access to some of the most incredible infrastructure in the Indian education system. Ok, so back to the title of this post. Being “Chief Guest” at an Indian school function is definitely something that everyone must experience.   As “Chief Guest” you are treated with an extraordinary amount of respect, it’s almost embarrassing at times.   They send a ...

For those of you who actually read this blog, you will know that one of my favorite non-football trips to make is to the Nisarga ashram in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh.   I typically make the overnight train journey to this little piece of heaven two times a year and fully unwind with the support of guided meditations, enlightening discourse, nature walks, organic food and beautiful people from all over the world.                                         So last week I was at the ashram fully immersed in Himalayan bliss when I find out that I am meant to present to the AFC Medical Committee at the Indian Football Federation House the day before I was scheduled to return to Delhi. Although my immediate thought was to humbly request one of my colleagues to deliver the presentation on my behalf, I quickly dismissed that thought when I realized how great of an opportun...

The Indian Super League (ISL), a concept which has been discussed at length for the past three years, has finally arrived. And, although it’s true that this property remained in the minds and mouths of IMG-Reliance executives in Mumbai and London for far too long, I must say that I’m pleasantly surprised with what the league office staff have been able to put together over the past few months.   Coming from my Major League Soccer days, I have a decent sense of all the different moving parts required to organize a quality professional football league, a task which is exponentially harder in a country like India where systems and processes are merely good ideas and far from reality. In spite of all odds, ISL has successfully launched with most of the necessary elements in place to support the development of a sustainable league: ownership with deep pockets, strong broadcast partner, clear brand identity, robust marketing plan, family of partners and rosters filled with a mix of rec...