The stupendous success of Euro 2008 has created a lot of interest in the game the world over, including India. It has proved that the game is great money - earner, making the media barons sit up and hatch up schemes to make a big buck. It is the media that makes or mars anything in the world.
Popular sport:
If we come to think of it, it is football, and not cricket, that is the most popular sport in the world. Cricket is confined mostly to the commonwealth nations, the erstwhile colonies of the British Empire. The electronic media has made it big. India is no exception. The people in India worship cricket so much that it has become almost the God of modern times. The IPL games made the people go almost mad. It usurped the prime television time and proved to be a great entertainer. People would rather miss the movie but not the league match. The media barons revelled in it because there was much money in it. Even the big wigs of the business world evinced much interest in it and bought the players as if they were cattle.
Football is not confined to the commonwealth countries. It is played the entire world over. Football is creating more and more interest in India also. International cricket is also responsible for the increasing craze for football in India. When the electronic media is interested in it, the rest will take care of itself.
That media is all in all in the present day world was predicted by a famous writer called Marshall McLuhan, who, as long as in 1964, said that the media plays the most dominant role in the world. His book called “Understanding Media” was published in that year and it instantly created ripples. He published another book, in collaboration with Quentin Fiore, called “The Medium is the Massage”. It may also be taken as “the Medium is the Message”. You put anything before the media and instantaneously it commands the attention of the whole world. People accept the message without a second thought. The medium itself assumes the role of the message. It is the medium, or media, that makes the message as all-important.
A number of instances can be given in support of this statement. When Julius Caesar was assassinated by the conspirators, Brutus, a friend of Caesar, who was also one of the people who stabbed Caesar, made a simple statement that he had to kill his own friend to save the country from dictatorship.
Then walked in Antony. He made a long speech. In the beginning he praised the killers. Gradually he built up his case and made the citizens of Rome rise in revolt. The medium created an enormous effect on the mind of the people. When Indira Gandhi was assassinated, her body was preserved and kept before the Television camera for a week providing an opportunity for millions of people to view it. The result was obvious. Rajiv Gandhi sailed into the Government as the Prime Minister, riding over the crest of a huge sympathy - wave.
The world TV channels, which bought live the great moments of the Euro 2008, revived the craze of the people for football throughout the world. All the 31 matches played were quite exciting, not only to the spectators but also to the television viewers. The Union of European Football Association (UEFA) earned a fabulous sum of 1.3 billion pounds or Rs. 8,710 crore, through the sale of television rights and sponsorships. This sum was about 50 per cent higher than what the Association earned in 2004.
The spin-off benefits were not small. Hotel bookings and other activities connected with tourism brought in 2 billion pounds or Rs. 13,400 crore. The UEFA has not frittered away all its earnings. A sum of 600 million pounds was spent for staging the whole show. It has also realised the importance of improving the quality of the game. As much as 450 million Euros go to the member associations to lift the game to a high level.
Football fever:
India also is catching the football fever in recent years. The FIFA World Cup played in Korea and Japan in 2002 attracted the Ten Sports Television Network, which paid just 3 million dollars for the telecast rights. The World Cup tournament played in 2006 fetched 9 million dollars! It was three times the amount fetched in 2002.
Kashi of football:
The television giants are seeing that there is big money in football also, not just in cricket. Now they are vying with one another for getting the television rights of the 2010 FIFA tourney. Kolkata and Kerala have large number of football viewers. They have very great craze for the game. Even today Kolkata is said to be the Kashi of football. India also may play an important role in football tournaments. The craze for football in India is revived once again and more and more people are evincing very great interest in it. There is an increase in the earnings of the television channels. The Television Rating (TVR) points are steadily increasing. The FIFA World Cup 2006 had a TVR of 9.1.
In terms of numbers, about 627 million people viewed the matches. This could stand comparison with popular soap operas and one - day cricket matches. The recent Euro 2008 matches commanded the attention of great number of Indian viewers, even though some of the matches were telecast in the wee hours of the night.
Street game:
Contrary to the common view, soccer (football) is more popular as a street game. Domestic football is said to be more popular than domestic cricket. Indian football matches attract huge crowds even today. The league matches are a rage in India. The final league match between Mohan Bagan East Bengal played in Kolkata’ s Salt Lake Stadium was seen by not less than 1,30,000 people!
But the game that is played in India is said to be very poor in quality. The fate of our hockey seems to have over - taken our football also. The rank of India today is F 143 in the world of football. What a shame! Something must be done to revitalise it. We cannot afford to make it extinct in India.
