Live India, Love Football

The UBA stands for United Basketball Alliance and it’s a property created by a few sports-loving Americans with the objective of developing and promoting the sport of basketball in India.   It launched back in 2015 and, to be honest, I’ve not followed the league too closely during its previous four short format seasons.   That’s all going to change now though thanks to a great initiative I was recently a part of organised by the UBA and their strategic consultants Ernst & Young. In an effort to introduce the United Basketball Alliance and present franchisee opportunities to “influencers” within the Indian sports industry, the UBA invited a group of us to Goa to experience the Finals of their 4 th season.   I didn’t know what to expect but chose to accept the invitation knowing that it would be a good opportunity to learn about a property that may interest my employers DSK Group as well as network with others in the industry.   Plus, who doesn’t want an all...

One of my new years resolutions was that I would teach more in 2017.   Educating young people is just something that I know in my heart will play a major part of the latter years of my life and I figured that it’s never too early to start.   I’ve been working in sports for nearly 14 years now in a League Office, at two agencies and now as CEO of a professional football club and, in that time, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about what it takes to be effective in this industry.   And while I’ve learned many facts, figures and theories along the way, what I’ve really taken away are the soft skills that make a difference. And I say “effective” and not “successful” as those who are ambitious will rarely know when they have truly achieved success as the bar raises at every level.   But effectiveness is more measurable; one can clearly see when they have been able to make positive difference to their organisation and ultimately to the sports industry.   Since I...

I was down in Mumbai over the weekend to attend the Football Movement conference hosted by India on Track, the UK Department of International Trade and the Premier League.   A lot of positive conversations with a number of people in the industry however I won’t go into any details about that as none of it is as interesting as this picture of me and Newcastle legend Alan Shearer who is now an official “Champion” for the Premier League. Such a humble and enjoyable person to be around.  

My California based parents were in Pune last month to visit / check up on Avantika and I.   During their stay, my in-laws flew in from Delhi to surprise them which kick-started an extraordinary family weekend.   One of the highlights of the weekend was going to Aufsides Sports Bar where we were hosting a DSK Shivajians FC match viewing party.   While we lost to Mohun Bagan 3-1 in a closely contested game, it was pretty amazing to have both sets of parents together in our new home city watching my team play against Indian football giants Mohun Bagan with a room full of new Shivajians FC supporters: something I couldn’t have even dreamed about a few years ago...

I’m going to slightly move away from my typical blog posting strategy of writing about some sports experience I’ve recently had followed by a slew of pictures in an attempt to document my sporting adventures and sporting EQ while showcasing how cool my life is to the readers of this blog. I’ve been reading this interesting book called Start with Why by Simon Sinek.   I first found out about the author a few weeks when an eyo-opening interview of his on millennials went viral and soon after a friend recommended that I read this book.   I bought it on Kindle and have been reading it in the mornings during my 30 minute drive to work which I’ve found is an excellent strategy to mentally prepare myself for office each day.      The book has a simple message for leadership: focus on the Why.   This means to clearly understand and identify the purpose of building your organisation; more generically be clear on the organisation’s intended contribution to...

This past week was full of a few extraordinary firsts for me, ones that I will cherish for the rest of my life.... First #1 – Attended my First FC Goa Match My dear friend, Sukhvinder Singh, has been CEO of the Indian Super League club, FC Goa, for a little over a year now which is about the same amount of time I’ve been telling him that I would visit Goa to attend a match.   So as I watched the 3 rd ISL season breeze by, I finally decided to book a flight for my wife and I to attend FC Goa’s 1 st December fixture against Chennaiyin FC, a re-match of last year’s championship game.   We arrived into Goa just a few hours before the game and went straight to the team hotel located in the South not too far away from the stadium.   I must have travelled to Goa 20 times over the past few years however there isn’t a time when I arrive when I don’t comment about how different the vibe is compared to the rest of India.   Even at the team hotel, there was this ...