PANJIM: In what will go down as one of the first in Goan football history, the three Goan I-League clubs Sporting Clube de Goa, Salgaocar FC and Dempo SC have joined hands to promote The Beautiful Game in the State in view of the I-League, which commences from January 17.
The announcement came at press conference held by the clubs along with their respective owners and representatives, at a city hotel, here, on Tuesday evening. The campaign will spread over the course of the I-League season, targeting football fans all over Goa, especially those in the villages.
The promotion plan includes putting up hoardings, road shows, banners, leaflets/flyers, player cut-outs and much more. Player cut-outs will be put up at prominent traffic islands while road shows will be held one day before each match and the day of the match. The tickets will be put up for sale in advance at various village/city outlets in addition to the box office at Nehru stadium
The tickets are priced at Rs 50 for North, South and East stands and Rs 100 for the West stand. Air Conditioned corporate/hospitality boxes will also be made available as per demand. The tickets will be available in advance, initially for eight matches to be played in January and February. The matches which are telecast will be played at 4.30 p.m. and 7 p.m. while all other matches will start at 5.30 p.m.
“I feel very positive about the I-League as the enthusiasm is really growing in football. The experience in the ISL (Hero Indian Super League) has helped home grown players and many Goan as well as Indian players to shine,” said Shrinivas Denmpo, chairman of Dempo SC and co-owner of FC Goa.
Federation Cup runners-up, Salgaocar FC play Pune FC in the opening home match, at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Saturday. Dempo open their campaign on the same day against defending champions Bengaluru FC in the away fixture. Sporting Clube de Goa play the next day at home against East Bengal.
The inaugural edition of the Hero ISL has been a great success, uniting Goan football lovers with the rich experience never seen before in the I-League. However, GFA President, Elvis Gomes believes that the I-League remains as India’s premier competition.
“I am personally excited to see the owners of the three I-League clubs together which is a rare occasion. It is the main league in the country and I hope it will be very successful,” opined, Elvis.
ISL’s accomplishment is the sheer genius of its marketing partners IMG-Reliance which the I-League clubs are now trying to focus on and reproduce. “The I-League clubs are here for a long term because we have passion for the game. The league has improved the standard of football in India as we have invested a lot in it. Previously, we did not apply our mind in marketing of the sport. The ISL has done that successfully and it is something we can try and replicate,” felt Salgaocar FC chairman, Shivanand Salgaocar.
“ISL has been a disruptive innovation. They came out with a unique tournament which has partly fulfilled its objective. I have no answers to what will happen in Indian football,” added Shivanand while slamming the adversities ISL has created for the I-League.
Peter Vaz, President of Sporting Clube de Goa feels that this editions league will be very competitive as the 11 participating teams are well balanced. “We have been focusing how to develop the youngsters as the Goan youth have been the core of our team. Our Federation (AIFF) has never understood the importance of marketing.”
The Goan teams performed exceptionally well in the recently concluded Federation Cup in Goa with the trio making it to the semi-final stage. Last season, they finished in the top five of the I-League.
