New Delhi: In our country glamour and cricket go hand in hand. Ever since the IPL began, Bollywood has become an integral part of the game more so because actors have taken up the ownership of different franchise. While cricket and IPL in particular has earned in crores and changed our perception about the game, other sports have been waiting patiently in the wings for a similar facelift.
A spate of league tournaments in hockey, football and kabaddi have led to more Bollywood celebrities coming forward to lend the much needed financial support to these games. Not only are actors coming forward to own franchises but they are also lending glamour to these sports which ensure wide publicity for the league itself.
Ranbir Kapoor, co-owner of Mumbai City Football Club (FC) franchise of the Indian Super League (ISL) football tournament believes that Bollywood's involvement in sports is a right way forward. At the team launch event, Kapoor said "It's a great thing, and every sport should be encouraged in the country. Cricket is our first love, but that doesn't mean we should not give kabaddi or football a platform."
Most of the actors who are involved in the league are themselves sports enthusiast and want to be involved in picking the players. "I wanted to practice and play with the team, decide the strategy and pick players," said John Abraham, who is the owner of Hockey India League team Delhi Waveriders and the North-East FC franchise of the Indian Super League.
Abhishek Bachchan, an ardent football fan, owns the Jaipur franchise of Pro Kabaddi League and co-owns the Chennai franchise of ISL. Bachchan's Kabaddi team recently won the debut Pro Kabaddi League and had celebrities like Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan cheering the players from the stands on a regular basis. Not only did the players get the much needed exposure through the league matches, but the glamour ensured that more people were hooked on to their TV sets every evening to watch the matches.
Big brands are more willing to invest in such leagues when there are celebrities involved in it. So it ends up becoming a win-win situation with big brands and cleberities rubbing shoulders on a platform for sports. Cynics might state that involving film celebrities and glamorizing sports takes the focus out of the game but they have helped in generating hype and interest for games other than sports.
For decades, India has been blamed for concentrating only on cricket and not training players of other sports to match the international standards. But with privatization, league tournaments and Bollywood slowly taking interest in games other than cricket, Indian sports has taken a positive step forward.
(With Agency Inputs)
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