09-23-2015, 06:44 AM
Golf is regularly offered as a sport in private schools, especially the more fancy ones. That's perhaps coz you have a lot of golfers doing well on the Asian circuit. Now of course they are nowhere as good for the PGA but it somehow has gained them a lot of fame in the country. Besides there is a lot of money in the sport and I am guessing that is why parents are sending their 6-year-olds to golf coaching.
On the other hand I know parents who will send their kids to the 'Man Utd training camp' which is nothing more than a promotional event. NBA does that too here but I doubt either United or NBA are serious about finding some real talent. They just sell some shirts, make new fans and get more exposure in the country.
On the other hand you have the MRF pace academy in Chennai which is famous for producing world class bowlers. You have foreigners dying to come train there- that is how good the cricket infrastructure is. We are talking about the 'La Masia' of fast bowlers. IPLA, as annoying as I find the whole concept, has actually drastically upped the level of cricket in the country as even state level players got a chance to play against top world class ones. ISL on the other hand has our boys playing against has beens who couldn't give a lesser fuck. I mean Anelka is a player-coach ? that is how serious that league is.
As for football- well it's mostly restricted to EPL fans in pubs drinking beer watching Chelsea/United/Liverpool/Arsenal and mispronouncing European player names. You won't walk down streets and finds kids playing 5 a side- but anywhere you go, you will find 5 cricket matches going on at the same time in the same ground.
Even when it comes to watching matches its a mess- Imagine this- the biggest network int he country Star sports completely dropped Serie A from their roster to show Bundesliga instead. Nobody is showing Serie A. But we have 160 cricket channels. Want to watch second division cricket from some obscure part of England? No problem. Want to watch one of the best leagues int he world? Piss off. It's incredibly frustrating at times.
On the other hand I know parents who will send their kids to the 'Man Utd training camp' which is nothing more than a promotional event. NBA does that too here but I doubt either United or NBA are serious about finding some real talent. They just sell some shirts, make new fans and get more exposure in the country.
On the other hand you have the MRF pace academy in Chennai which is famous for producing world class bowlers. You have foreigners dying to come train there- that is how good the cricket infrastructure is. We are talking about the 'La Masia' of fast bowlers. IPLA, as annoying as I find the whole concept, has actually drastically upped the level of cricket in the country as even state level players got a chance to play against top world class ones. ISL on the other hand has our boys playing against has beens who couldn't give a lesser fuck. I mean Anelka is a player-coach ? that is how serious that league is.
As for football- well it's mostly restricted to EPL fans in pubs drinking beer watching Chelsea/United/Liverpool/Arsenal and mispronouncing European player names. You won't walk down streets and finds kids playing 5 a side- but anywhere you go, you will find 5 cricket matches going on at the same time in the same ground.
Even when it comes to watching matches its a mess- Imagine this- the biggest network int he country Star sports completely dropped Serie A from their roster to show Bundesliga instead. Nobody is showing Serie A. But we have 160 cricket channels. Want to watch second division cricket from some obscure part of England? No problem. Want to watch one of the best leagues int he world? Piss off. It's incredibly frustrating at times.
