Super League Kerala: A sign of better things to come for football in the state

A full house. A well-contested final and a win for the home team. The script proved just perfect for the inaugural edition of Super League Kerala.

The success of the ambitious project augurs well for the future of Kerala football. The beautiful game may no longer be a clear winner when it comes to the State’s most popular sports, and it could do with the fillip provided by the league.

To conceive a new football league when the calendar is already packed with the Indian Super League and the I-League – the two together employ the best of Indian talents and quite a lot of quality foreign players – would have been a challenge for the organisers.

Selling football to prospective owners may not have been easy either, given the fact that football is not exactly a hugely profit-making sport in the country.

But, Super League Kerala, has debuted well. It is, of course, too early to say how the league will shape up in the future.

The signs, though, are encouraging.

The crowds have been really good in most venues, especially at Kozhikode and Manjeri – both grounds have attracted capacity crowds (between 28,000 and 36,000).

As heartening has been the interest shown by Thiruvananthapuram, which, unlike Kozhikode or Manjeri, isn’t exactly known for its love of football. Three clubs didn’t have home grounds, something the organisations should address before Season 2 arrives.

As Manjeri, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram showed, fans would want to play their teams at home.

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The fans followed the league on television too. The coverage was of good quality, and the numbers were excellent too, running into lakhs per match.

The clubs managed to bring in fine players, domestic as well as overseas, and capable coaches though they didn’t have too much time at their disposal.

The league is also a wonderful opportunity for the State’s young talents. If they had only Kerala Blasters and Gokulam Kerala to look up to, now they have six more clubs, too.

For the league to sustain, it should be able to break even soon. If the organisers and the club owners manage to do that, Kerala football, and professional sport at large in India, will benefit.