Rahul Dravid - My tiny story

There are people I admire, people I aspire to be like and people that remind me that true greatness is not achieved just by doing what you do best but by also making sure that your feet stay firmly on the ground - a quality that many in the public eye do not possess in the smallest measure, when success knocks on their door. For me, Rahul Dravid ticked every box that had to be ticked and more. Unassuming, humble and of course a legend of the game of cricket, Dravid's presence in the Indian cricket team will be sorely missed. 

Every Dravid fan will remember him by one or some of his greatest innings. Perhaps he will also be remembered for being the true gentleman that he is. He has played some of the truly outstanding innings of all time. The one that I will treasure though is not one that might come to your mind immediately when you think of Rahul Dravid. The one I'm talking about is his century on the third day of the first Test between India and England at Lord's on July 23, 2011. It did not lead to an India win nor was it Dravid's finest knock by any stretch of imagination. I will treasure it purely because I was there that day to witness the genius in action. Call me a show-off if you wil, but hey, I witnessed a Dravid hundred at Lord's; why shouldn't I boast? 

Images courtesy: www.espncricinfo.com 

I'm more of an armchair cricket fan. I can count the number of cricket games I have attended, double that number and I'll still have fingers left to count on my hand. Tickets for the Lord’s game were at a premium. In fact, I tried but I did not succeed in getting one. The only ticket I could book in advance was one to the final day of the Oval Test of the same series (when my friends and I were witness to a great knock by Sachin Tendulkar who eventually missed his 100th hundred). 

The 22nd of July 2011 was just another day for me. I had got back home after work, when the phone rang. A friend had a spare ticket to the third day's play which he had managed to get at nearly double the original price. Team India in England, first Test of the series, India to bat the next day, Tendulkar on the verge of a hundred centuries. Like any sensible fan, I did not pause to think. 

I stood outside the gates at Lord’s with my friend and one of his friends. I realized that they had two tickets and the third was to be given to us at the ground by the person who sold it to them online. We waited... and waited.... the crowd swelled and I was tense. There was no sign of the guy. Calling him  only took us to his voice mailbox. Finally, after a number of attempts, he answered. He had arrived at St. John's Wood (the nearest tube station). He had more to say. His ticket had been stolen from his pocket on his way to the ground. We thought we'd been cheated, but at least he did turn up and return the money that was paid to him. Now then, I could not even consider going back home after the excitement which had started building up inside me from the previous night. I had dreamed of watching a Tendulkar century, not just any century, but this hundredth. A huge milestone, one that many cricket fans are still hoping they will be lucky enough to see. After all Sachin is another living legend who I have admired for so many years now. We had no choice. We approached touts who were selling tickets at premium prices. Maybe encouraging ticket touts wasn't the best thing to do. But for just this once, it was. Tickets in hand, we proceeded to our seats. We were late, the game had begun. 

Sitting right below the media centre, I took in the atmosphere. I was at Lord’s. Abhinav Mukund was at the crease. As he was from Chennai (the place I relate to in domestic cricket terms), I was quite eager to see how he did. At the other end Gambhir fell to Broad. Dravid walked in to warm applause, from both sets of fans, applause that was also filled with genuine respect. He got down to business as usual. Then Mukund too left the crease for a well crafted 49. 


All of a sudden, the noise at the ground reached fever pitch (for Lord’s standards). I got my phone out to capture a video of the great man walking in. The crowd rose to its feet, some sections went slightly mental (me included). The stadium had erupted as Sachin Tendulkar walked in. The ground had been buzzing since the gates opened. Everyone at the ground - English, Indian and people of every other nationality that was there - wanted to see a Tendulkar ton. Now the stage was his. Every run he made was cheered, boundaries were met with reactions normally saved for moments that won matches. Dravid's only duty, from the fans' point of view, seemed to just be to hand strike back to the Little Master. But some sparkling strokes later, Sachin was dismissed. A lot of us felt we had missed out. Will this opportunity come again? 

It was after tea. I was only now beginning to truly appreciate - in the middle of all the carnage - the sheer class of an innings being played by Rahul Dravid  - a knock of full of guts, sublime technique and unshakeable mental strength. When he ran the 2 runs which took him to his century, Lord’s was on its feet. The applause started. It seemed to never end. Dravid punched the air, showed emotions he not often does and celebrated. An English fan next to me turned to me and said, "Absolute legend. Forget Sachin, this is the guy you Indian fans should be praising to the sky more often". Not the exact words, but definitely on those lines. The applause went on. When he left the field after having played through the entire innings, the crowd rose again to show their appreciation for another truly fantastic innings by Rahul Dravid.

After the day's play, I stood, along with a group of fellow Indian fans, behind the Indian dressing room and managed to catch a glimpse of the man from close quarters. Even after that gem of a display though, most of the screams were for Tendulkar. Everyone wanted to see "God". I proceeded to take a self conducted tour of the ground and was lucky to mutter a few words to Sunil Gavaskar as he left the ground. I sent a text to a couple of friends. It read "Met Gavaskar... unfortunately I didn't know what the hell to say to him". I spoke to a couple of friends. The longest part of the conversation was reserved to mention/boast about my "meeting" with Gavaskar. 

Looking back now, that day at Lord’s, summed up most if not all of what Rahul Dravid is about, for me. Rarely was Dravid in the limelight. Rarely has he been given the credit he's due. We took him for granted even though he's not only fancied some of India's greatest wins, but also allowed the team a to take home semblance of respect in devastating defeats like the one in this Lord’s Test. 


The man cannot be praised enough. It will be futile for me to try and explain the magnitude of his achievements. Even when he has decided to retire, he didn't announce it one Test match ahead, so the cricket world would focus on him for 5 days and eulogise his career. Dravid retired - like he would do anything else - with class. Plain and simple. Thank you, Rahul Dravid. I salute you. The game of cricket may never be the same again. 


Update: If you haven't listened to Dravid speak at the Sir Donald Bradman Oration in December 2011, please do. Every word is worth it. 

Investment and sustainable investment

Dear group members of the Beautiful Game, I'll try my best to be neutral here. I started responding to Anand's post ("Monetary investment is fine in a free economic world") on the comments thread, but as I kept typing, I feared anyone seeing a comment of that size wouldn't bother reading through. So this is for those of you who would have been interested in doing so,  presented in the uncluttered environs of Plumb in Front (pretty shameless eh...? So what!). Read on I say...

Before I start on other clubs, I'd like to say that I AM aware of the fact that even the club I support was at one point a benefactor in terms of revenue (rather unfairly, you can say). David Dein, an Arsenal fan who invested in the club was a fanatic and would do anything to see his club at the top. Pre-Wenger he had a huge influence on anything that went on at Arsenal. Dein - after becoming chairman of the Football League Management Committee (FLMC) - along with a few others championed the deal with ITV in 1988 for exclusive rights to home games, that saw the top 5 teams getting a lion's share of TV revenue for a few years. This obviously gave these clubs (Arsenal, United, Liverpool, Tottenham and one more which I can't remember) a significant financial advantage. The formation of the Premier League, meant that these clubs could negotiate better commercial deals (naturally) even though the TV revenue was then distributed evenly once Sky took over. What I'm getting at is that, at the end of the day any club/business will do what (it thinks) is best for itself. Dein and Co., definitely gave the top 5 an edge and its probably the implications of this deal that saw these clubs more successful in the years that followed.

"Monetary investment is fine in a free economic world" - 90% correct. 

"Sustainable monetary investment is fine in a free economic world." - is 100% correct, as far as I'm concerned. 

At a time when the world's markets are plunging, football seems to be (actually is) thriving in a different solar system. It's unsustainable and it should stop. It will stop. At least that's what I think.

I accept that for a club outside the previous Big Four, the ONLY way to get in amongst them was to spend BIG. The dominance of these clubs would have otherwise definitely continued and we wouldn't have reached this point at which we are witnessing an exciting league with no real big four any more.

While I acknowledge that there had to be spending to give the traditional big teams a run for their money, the manner in which this has been carried out is what makes me give no importance to the success (that may be) achieved as a result. The methods employed by City and in years past by Chelsea astound me for the short termism in decision making. Chelsea's mad spree started in 2003-04 (am I right there?), yet almost a decade letter, I'm not sure they can say they've built up a club that is envied by anyone. Trophies yes. What else? How many managers have stayed there for more than... a year? Can they say they're completely stable? What if Abramovich decides to pack his bags and leave to invest in a kabaddi team in 2019 (assuming we have the Indian Kabaddi League set up by then)? How many players have they invested in from a very young age by buying them at a reasonable cost (sorry but £50m is not reasonable)? How many outstanding players have come through their academy? In my mind, the commercial clout and everything else that Chelsea gained after the first few trophies started pouring in, should have been made use of sensibly, to build a long term plan, a plan that should have considered becoming even more successful by forming foundations that would have seen them dominate, not through further spending sprees, but through an excellent system supplemented by intelligent purchases in the transfer market. I don't see that kind of system in place. After almost of decade of a foreign investor coming in, there are just too many uncomfortable questions. 

From what we've seen from Manchester City in the last two years, they seem to be heading down the same path, although this made me 0.0001% more interested in what they're trying to achieve. Even if I was a Man City supporter, I would have been utterly flabbergasted when I heard about the scale of losses that were posted last year. Only one word comes to mind. Unsustainable. A trophy at the end of such massive spending is a minimum requirement and won't be a truly great achievement. Anything less would be a complete/utter disaster. In fact their exit from the Champions League in the group stages is already for me the flop of the season. 

I actually hope they win the domestic league in a way, because I'm curious to see how they will build on that. A successful team will financially strengthen the whole club. The question that remains is, will trophies be used as a platform to build on or will it just be the start of a never ending obsession to win-at-any-cost(£££)? That for me will determine whether they're class or classless. This is not aimed at the fans but just at the way this/these club(s) is(are) run.

As a football fan, I'd like my team to win things, but that doesn't look likely in the current climate. Trophies would be great, but it's not an obsession - which it is for many - for me. Arsenal may not win anything this year (Champions league maybe.. heh) or the next year or the year after that, but Arsene Wenger will continue to be a genius in my mind, for the culture he's cultivated at the club; someone who has ensured that this club will be in good stead even years after he eventually says goodbye. Arsenal for me will be a successful club as it is now. We'll be back in the reckoning for silverware when the football bubble bursts. It surely will. Ciao! 

Wenger's "failed" youth project

Three months and a decent revival later, Arsenal have now well and truly gone some way to establishing themselves at the right end of the league table. The nightmarish start to the current campaign, although not yet a distant dream, has now been replaced by a string of solid if not elegant performances. There is still no guarantee that we will finish in the top four this season, but then, it looks like we've given ourselves a bloody good chance. The added experience in the squad has no doubt played a huge part in the resurgence with the likes of Gervinho, Arteta, big Mert and Santos adding some steel and calm to a flamboyant and young team. There seems to be a notion doing the rounds though, that Wenger's investment in experience, has meant his youth project of many years has failed and that he has abandoned his youth policy. I'm not quite sure about that. 

Pleasant Hangover

Most of us Arsenal fans are still gloating over the 5-3 victory at Stamford Bridge and quite a few others have been asking us not to get carried away. You know who? The people who got carried away themselves after Arsenal lost by that unmentionable scoreline at Old Trafford. In any case, for the record, we're not getting too excited as we very well know there's still almost 30 games to play. We know.

Others have been joining Alan Hansen in crying out loud about the sloppy defending from both Chelsea and Arsenal. While there is a little truth in that claim, after a great game that kept you on the edge of wherever you were sitting, with some decent attacking football, if the only thing you can talk about is the bad defending, you must be a really sad kind of character who fails to enjoy the good things in life.

Arsene Wenger was not one of those people and he was quite chuffed about the "big win". On being asked about the performance of his players he said, "We played a very technical game. Normally we drop a bit physically and mentally in the second half. This time we did it in the first half. That's how we fooled them." 

So what was said in the dressing room at half time?

"I don't want to comment on what was said. All I can say is we had enough petrol for the second half, which Chelsea didn't know about." 

What did you think of the Chelsea defence? 

"I thought our defending has been little bit shit, but today we saw that others can be shit too. Like John Terry."

Should Szczesny have been sent off? That could have changed the game.

"Should Joey Barton have been sent off in our first game? That could have changed little bit our position in the league table."

Diwali, Coonoor and BSNL make my day!

25/10/2011

It feels good to be back at home after a seven month gap. Seven months is well short of a million years, but at the same time it’s long enough to make you yearn for all things “local”. It’s only natural for anyone from any corner of the world to feel at home, only at home. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise. It’s like the TV people advertising HD/3D television as an experience that is almost like being at the actual venue. Yes, it’s almost LIKE it, but it’s not it. 

After a couple of days in Bengaluru – the latest in the list of awkward sounding Indian cities – I arrived in Coonoor, where my folks had no idea I would turn up. My father was a bit shocked. He didn’t speak for a few seconds; he looked like a subdued Man City fan just after the 6-1 win over United – stunned, but in a good way.  Being a Gooner, I just had to squeeze this into my blog considering I've been on the receiving end of those 8-2 jokes for 4-3 weeks now, so if you didn't like it or you think its not funny which isn't my intention in any case,  well...  move on. Anyway, it was nice to give everyone a surprise and luckily so far every single response I've got has been quite positive. In other words, no one has been left paralysed by news of my arrival. The only negative response has been from my stomach – surprising – which hasn’t warmed to the occasion. The less said on this topic, the better… no really… you don’t want to know. 

Van-tastic Pitch-side View

Courtesy: The Telegraph

I've spent a good deal of money on The Arsenal. It certainly does not compare to what most avid Arsenal fans spend, going to every other game. Yet, after quite a few trips to the Emirates, I felt a sense of entitlement to see the REAL Arsenal. By that, I mean some flowing passes, good possession, and as a bonus - a victory. I got most of that today. Every single penny I spent was worth it (this is compared to my previous visits ONLY of course), mainly due of the genius of Robin van Persie. A flowing move for the first goal before some of the Emirates faithful had even warmed their seats, a sublime chip that came off the post and a brilliant late free kick again from the skipper sealed a deserved win. It did for a long time look uncertain after a nicely taken free kick by Seb Larsson, which I didn't see in real time to be honest.

Need it Here, Now, Today!

I was guzzling down a pint of beer on Friday evening and engaged in a casual conversation on football, cricket and rugby with my boss. He's been having a great few months with England thrashing India in the recent Test and one day series, Wales faring well in the ongoing rugby World Cup while also taking pleasure in reminding me (maybe once too often) of the not-so-pretty performances of the Indian team and of course Arsenal. We've never got to the point of aiming blows at each other, so it was all in good spirit. We wound up the discussion quickly and soon I was on the train, heading home and all I could keep thinking of was about the way the world of sports has been transformed in the past decade or so. What I'm referring to could have happened earlier, but of course I'm speaking from personal observations and whether I'm right or wrong, I think you'll agree with me on some level.

Of Number Crunching and Joey Barton

It's that time of the weekend. Premier league games are going to be hitting our TV screens in a few hours. It's about now when Twitter time-lines start filling up with previous match-ups between teams, win-loss records, goals scored against this opponent, goals scored by Mr Soso etc. While a lot of these statistics are quite interesting and give us a way to use up some time before the actual games begin, this number crunching has gone way too far nowadays that sometimes I find that some of it, actually most of it, is just useless. 

Stats are good, but at the end of the day they're just stats. I'm not completely blind to suggest that all stats are useless, but the thing about this overdose is that now we have stats not based on actual events, but even on hypothetical situations, that are probably playing out in some parallel universe. The irritating part is that you can manipulate these numbers to make a good situation better, a bad situation worse or basically any way to prove a point that you want to prove. Now if you ask me why I'm coming up with this anti-stat rant it's because I started thinking about it when I saw this USELESS stat that I'm going to talk about.

Thoughts from inside the Emirates + Arsene still Knows Best

Walking into the Emirates yesterday, to watch the first home league game of the season, my emotions were a mix of cautious excitement and of course like a lot of Arsenal supporters, a feeling of anxiety which has surrounded the club over the last few months in particular. Wenger's dealings in the transfer market, or the lack of it, have left a lot of fans disgruntled, and this was evident as the match wore on or rather as Liverpool edged closer to sealing the three points at the end. 

It all started quite brightly, to be honest, and the atmosphere inside the stadium was great, although it wasn't extraordinary. The announcement of Nasri in the playing eleven invited a few boos (as expected), but I think the majority realized that the team needed him there (and he proved that with a very good performance), with the squad being stripped to its bare bones through injuries and suspensions. The first half didn't inspire a great deal, apart from a couple of chances on either side. Frimpong was having a great little spell and he seemed to be really up for it. He got a great shot on goal, then turned around to all of us in the stands and egged us on to make some noise. The crowd reacted and there was suddenly a wave of loud support. There was a genuine sense of appreciation for the Arsenal as they headed off into the tunnel at half-time, for the fight they had put up with the resources at their disposal. 

The red card for Frimpong in the second half of course changed what could have been a well deserved draw to an unlucky defeat. We were not shown replays of the tackle and to us it just looked like they had run into each other. I think most of those who watched the highlights on MOTD would have realized that it was in fact a bad challenge. The goals for Liverpool heightened the sense of frustration around the Emirates, and a section of the crowd broke into the "Spend some F***in money" chant. I don't see a place for this during a game, when you have 11 men playing their heart out for your club. Such chants while it might not affect the players too much doesn't help them either. The encouraging fact was that it didn't gain momentum and a couple of those in front of me who started chiming in, stopped as soon as they realized that most of us weren't interested in joining. Another section of the crowd then brought back the "We love you Arsenal" chant which garnered more support and that was good to see. It was a bit disheartening to see a number of people leave before the game ended but then for all of us who stayed back, it was a chance to applaud the team for putting up a spirited display and show them that we were behind them. 

While the defeat hurt, I liked what I saw of Arsenal's young guns. I know a lot of you might say we have to spend and the usual lets sign Cahill/Samba/whoever the media links us with. I too am not blind and do realize we need a few reinforcements but I have a lot of faith in the manager and at the end of the day I think he knows what he is doing. We can go on and on about what has to be done, but I'd rather have Wenger decide what's best for the club. The man is an absolute genius and immortal IN MY OPINION. 

I dream of a day when Arsene Wenger has his hands aloft with a trophy in hand, after having won it with a team that was made with his vision, and those who wrote him off running around the streets naked with their unmentionables covered (I don't want to see that bit) with print outs of all their criticisms of Wenger/Arsenal strung around their waist with a piece of thread. I really hope it can happen soon, not for the sake of Arsenal winning a trophy, but because I want to see that joy on Wenger's face for all that he has had to face in what has been his most challenging time at the club. Whether that day comes at the end of the current season or a few seasons later, I'm prepared to wait and continue to support this great club. If it does miraculously happen this season, remember, you heard it here first. 

Defence of the Arsenal Defence

In case you missed the CL qualifier, I just want to start off by saying that Arsenal actually won the match against a relatively fancied Italian opponent, clean sheet intact and all that, although some newspapers might have you believe that winning nowadays is not the point. The media have been banging about on how Arsenal just escaped, how SZCZ's saves barely rescued us from embarrassment, how frail the team was and so on. It seems to me that most of these nut-cases who wrote these reports had started with an already planned agenda before even watching the game. Now, while I acknowledge the fact that there is frustration in Gooner world around Arsene Wenger's reluctance to splash the cash in the transfer market, those wearing the Red and White on the pitch did a lot to lift our spirits and gave us a win. 

Please let the football begin

Aren't we all fed up with all this transfer talk? I don't know about fans of other clubs, but if you're an Arsenal fan who sees a blog on Fabregas, Nasri or even Wenger or Gazidis you probably just go - Oh no, not again! Maybe we should just have like a social network for clubs to conduct their business and make it public for the whole world to see. Now that would be fun. Okay, not so much for football journalists, who'll have to actually think of something creative to write about when there is no football on, but it would benefit the footballing society in general.

It should be something like a combination of Facebook, Ebay, YouTube, Twitter and emm... okay let me throw in Google+ as well, just so that it doesn't feel left out. It should be made mandatory for all managers, players, coaches, scouts etc. to join (yes, even Arsene Wenger will need to create a profile even though he prefers to do his transfer business privately in  a dark cave in the French Alps). 

Show Me the Money

Moneyball

I hear a lot of talk that is ridiculing Arsenal's refusal to budge when it comes to player wages. Samir Nasri is of course the subject of this speculation. He tells us through his Twitter feed not to believe the papers, but we all know the truth don't we? He wants some extra cash and based on his performance in one... err.. sorry half a season, he thinks he has somehow earned it. He's an excellent player no doubt, but now the situation is quite dicey. I still think he'll stay but his image has been tarnished. Even if he stays he'll find it extremely difficult or impossible to get into the good books of Gooners again. Anyway if he can perform, thats all we would really care about.

A lot of fans (especially opposing fans) are saying "Oh, just give him the little extra cash and get him to stay". But this view does not consider the larger context in which it must be seen. The amount of money Nasri seems to be demanding is in no way unaffordable for Arsenal Football Club. But again, there's more that needs consideration and its by no means rocket science. Lets look at this in a slightly broader perspective, shall we?

Needle in a haystack

Wake up in the morning nowadays and all you see in the papers, at least in the football section, is about which player/manager might be going where, what fee is expected, what fee/wage is on offer, players' wage demands and then you'll see some of these players emphasising the fact that they were moving for "footballing reasons". Yeah right! The was precisely the reason why, in my previous post, I said I was flabbergasted when it was reported that the Hiddink-Chelsea deal was finally down to money. Of course, it was down to money. If Chelsea were to offer significantly less than what Hiddink was being paid in his role as Turkey national coach, I have no doubt that he would at least see out his contract before thinking of the next job. This is not to undermine Hiddink's integrity or his lack of interest in the Turkey job. It is just the way football works these days and is just one of a million examples.

Another story that has consistently been in the news for the last couple of weeks is the Nasri situation. It is turning into one of those protracted transfers that helps no one, least of all, us fans. Whether he will begin next season in a United or Arsenal shirt remains to be seen, though I am quite convinced that Wenger will not let one of his best players leave to a top, rival team. Nasri and his agent are just looking for that extra cash and if he does leave I am pretty sure it won't be to United. One good (half) season and he has demands. When Cesc says he wants to leave, or wants a pay rise, its understandable and as a fan you feel he has served the club well and has been loyal. For his age he's shown great maturity and handled the Barca situation extremely well over the last two seasons. 

Truths, untruths and things in-between

Have any of you heard of the quote "Nobody ever sees truth except in fragments"? Well I haven't either. And I'm not an ultra creative person, who can whip out a funny or thought provoking line in the blink of an eye and therefore I can confirm it's not mine. I relied on Google and found this one after a search that lasted approximately 0.23 seconds which fits nicely into what I'm going to harp on for a little bit. Now just look again at the quote as I'm quite sure you've forgotten what it was in the middle of all the drivel that has followed it. 

Lets start with Robin van Persie shall we? So we heard that he asked the players of Spain and Chelsea to concentrate on football and stop complaining about the referees. Well not exactly in the same manner as I, but using some of the English language's choicest words. Then we had some of the Chav blogs reacting instantly, some obviously saying that RvP was a c***. That is expected of course and proceedings were fun for a little while on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and even some otherwise boring news websites. Then all of a sudden Robin comes out of the closet and says he never said anything like that in the first place, spoiling all the fun in the process. So someone said he said it, he says he didn't, we believe the version we feel is best suited to our egos and life goes on with the episode registered in memory for use in future discussions with opposing fans.

Nothing you didn't know

It's that time of the year. There's not much football on and life is well, not boring but then there are time slots on weekends that need to be addressed. Since doing something constructive with my free time does not come naturally to me, hours and hours are spent reading things of very little importance on the internet. Thankfully I have a job now, which takes up my time during the week. 

Image Courtesy: Vetty Pictures

It's a time for reflection, especially since I'm an Arsenal fan. Think of how things could have turned out last season, how things could turn out next season and how things could turn out in the season after next when the next one doesn't go to plan. This is also a time when I get excited about any shred of transfer talk related to the club. First I read an article, then try to find at least three or four more to try and validate whether the first one was pure garbage (which it is nine times out of ten) and then think why I read it in the first place. When I'm tired of doing that, thoughts go to the upcoming season and a renewed, over optimistic sense of hope sweeps across me before it all comes to a grinding halt. That's when I suddenly remember that what I'm going to witnessing at the end of July will be a bunch of unheard of players with un-pronounceable names taking to the Emirates pitch for the Emirates cup wearing the Emirates, sorry Arsenal jersey, playing to rules that increase our chances of winning, then winning and finally pledging that THIS is going to be THE season.

What made you support your chosen club?

I come from a country where cricket is a religion. Oh wait, there is another way to say it now. I come from THE country whose cricket team are currently the World Champions. While cricket has been, still is and will be a big part of my life, I consider myself a bigger football fan than cricket fan. To be more specific I'm an Arsenal fan (those few souls who read this blog probably know by now). Until a few years ago, a lot of my friends looked at me like I was an alien when I said I supported a club team which I was in no way associated with geographically or otherwise. As the years rolled by a lot of the very same people are as passionate about their own chosen football club team.

My fascination for Arsenal started with the advent of cable television at home (I say home because it was only a few years after cable television entered India, before it became a standard norm in many Indian households like mine) and the fact that Arsenal were there or thereabouts when it came to winning championships. The English league was the most televised at the time (it still is) and I developed a taste for it, as I already had a deep inclination towards sports.

It's IPL time again.... Yawn

The latest installment of the IPL is a week old as I write this, and we Indians haven't even had the time to gloat over a famous World Cup win. I have yet to watch a full game and the credit (of course I'm being sarcastic) goes to some of our favorite commentators, all back after being rested for the World Cup. Laxman Sivaramakrishnan says, "Oh yes! Happy to be back. Had to keep myself fit for this one. That's why I opted out of the World Cup sponsored by Money Gram International, Reliance Communications, Castrol, ESPN Star ....... ",  all this hoping that at least a few of the brands would pay him a few Rupees for mentioning their names on live television. It's hard enough for cricket fans, having to many times miss the first and last ball of an over because of a commercial break and now we have these dimwits at the mercy of advertisers playing out the audio versions of the commercials almost every alternate ball. LS can be excused because that's probably as close as he'll get to featuring in a TV commercial.

I say, “KOP-y this”!

Now that all the hype over Fernando Torres' move to London has died down it's time to shift focus to another interesting development concerning one of English football's biggest clubs. Liverpool FC now has an online version of ‘The Kop’, which is a development in the social media sphere cannot be ignored, especially from a sports marketing angle. It is a proper social media hub developed by a football club just for their fans and it is the first of its kind that I've known of. It is interesting from a marketing perspective, for the club and other football and/or sports clubs and organizations and also for the fans.

Looking at it from an internal marketing point of view, creating their own branded closed space for fans and bringing them together as a community, gives Liverpool FC a chance to capture information about their fans and get to know them better, therefore giving them direct access to their fans without depending on a third party network. This will also let them easily shape conversations around Liverpool FC. Most of the top Premier League clubs now have a presence on Facebook, Twitter or both, and this has allowed them to get closer to their fans and also gave clubs an idea of how many people were actively following them online. Also, since the Premier League’s popularity has become global, a social media presence allowed clubs to get a rough idea of their following outside the UK and actively monitor what was being said about them. Even after these advancements, there are certain areas that are lacking. It is common now to see fans commenting on clubs’ Facebook posts, but the level of interactivity between fans is minimal if not non-existent,

If Arsenal were to Win the Premier League...

This is a preview to what you can expect to see, read or listen to from certain sources (not necessarily the ones I've mentioned)  in the highly unlikely (or impossible) scenario that Arsenal win the Premier League this season or actually any season for that matter.

So first lets go to a certain newspaper. Here is an extract from an article that I hear they have already prepared a rough draft of, in case Arsenal do win.

"One of the most entertaining Premier League seasons in recent times has a winner and Arsenal have managed to end a six year wait after their fellow title contenders made it easy for them by dropping points at crucial junctures. While the Gunners celebrate, it is also important to put this victory in perspective. Arsenal must consider themselves lucky that they have the crown. Fellow contenders not playing to potential and inconsistent refereeing definitely helped Arsenal's cause and in general it is also fair to say that the overall standard of football this past season has been below par. It is therefore not a time to celebrate the victory of sublime attacking football, but a time to reflect on the decline of the sport in this country. How can a team win the League with three different, substandard goalkeepers and a defense that leaked goals?

Lessons for Mainstream Brands from Two Sports Celebrities

I am not going to use superlatives to describe two individuals who I greatly admire, as no amount of it will be enough to express their greatness. It will also definitely not make sense to compare the exploits of Roger Federer and Sachin Tendulkar on the field of play either as they both are masters at sports which are as comparable as chalk and cheese. This article just aims to point out a couple of simple points on their social media presences, which are useful for businesses.

Both Federer and Tendulkar  have an enormous fan following (Sachin, probably to a lesser excellent due to the not-so-global reach of cricket) across the globe. They both handle the celebrity status with the utmost humility and they're both wonderful human beings who set excellent examples for those who look up to them. Being a fan of both Sachin and Federer, I follow them on Facebook and therefore I check for updates from these pages. Tendulkar has a Twitter account too, which I follow. When it comes down to how they fare on Facebook, I think Federer has an edge over the little master. I'm not saying that this will cause Tendulkar any distress, as he and also Federer for that matter, have better ways of getting people to talk about them. Federer has 5.7 million 'Likes' compared to Tendulkar's 1.9 million, but these statistics hardly mean anything and cannot give a more inaccurate reading of the number of admirers they have.