[Archived] Rovers to Play in India - Pre-season

[Hughesy]

Another article about the Indian tour

Does anyone think this could grip the young footballing population over there and get us a whole new fan base??

[Parsonblue]

Another article about the Indian tour

Does anyone think this could grip the young footballing population over there and get us a whole new fan base??

I think trying to build up a fan base in a country like India is going to be very difficult. Cricket is more than a national sport it is almost a religion and is the only sport that most youngsters in that country care about.

The problem in trying to build a fanbase outside of the country for a club like the Rovers is that we simply aren't in the same League as United, City, Chelsea etc in terms of being able to win things and attract the world's best players.

While one might applaud Venkys for trying I suspect that it will be hugely difficult for them to make much of an impact. Even our owner, Mrs. Desai, admitted that cricket is the sport that she watches which is natural as it is India's national sport.

Potentially, there is a huge market to tap into but I'm not convinced that the Rovers have the same attraction that the Champions League clubs might have. Nonetheless, good luck to them in their efforts to widen the appeal of the club but, as in any other walk of like, success tends to be the thing that attracts people and Venkys need to make sure that we are a success on the pitch if their marketing plans are to succeed.

[roversmum]

Ambition for Rovers in India is all very well, but I think many of us would feel more comfortable if we were satisfied that the basics of running a Premier League club were attended to as a priority for the moment.

[Hughesy]

Cricket is their sport – however Football is the quickest growing sport and it’s also the country with the 2nd quickest growing economy. It’s got the 2nd highest population with £1.2bn people and over 50% of those people are UNDER 25 – with more than half Male. That is a HUGE market to target. Football is now the 2nd most watched sport in the country, In 09-10 over 60 million individuals watched live premier league football in the country. Not sure about the figure from last season.

Now no doubt success makes it easier to win fans over, however surely if we have an active role in India, especially being the 1st in - playing pre-season games or training sessions, getting U16 kids excited about the chance to win a dream move to the English Premier League and setting up academies in key areas – we can surely either find the best local talent or at least gain a large number of new fans. It makes sense to try it, especially with Indian Owners, and ideally with an Indian or Global company sponsoring our shirts.

Whilst its good that we are starting to go into India, I would like to see us do much, much more over the next few months/ years – whether that be from setting up multiple academies, setting up coaching sessions with some of our coaches or by promoting more over there…..we need to try and get a solid start before any other clubs really have a go!

The link below above is interesting because it shows Kolkata is seen as the home of Indian Football, but Goa is quickly catching up. It also mentions metros like Mumbai as being huge and infact the young population now appear to play football more than Cricket. 3 cities which we are running football tournaments in. Indian Football - Big future

One line from that Article – “India is all set to become the leading football nation in Asia in next few years time”

[rog of the rovers]

When the Indians are passionate about something (i.e. Cricket and Hockey) they generally excel.

Cricket - 2 World Cups (current Champions), 1 World t20, current #1 Test team.

Hockey - 8 Olympic Gold medals, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze.

Who would have said after a series white wash in India's first test series in 1932, that ultimately India would be more successful than England at cricket?

If football takes off, they will be a force to be reckoned with going forward.

[wakinho]

Cricket is their sport – however Football is the quickest growing sport and it’s also the country with the 2nd quickest growing economy. It’s got the 2nd highest population with £1.2bn people and over 50% of those people are UNDER 25 – with more than half Male. That is a HUGE market to target. Football is now the 2nd most watched sport in the country, In 09-10 over 60 million individuals watched live premier league football in the country. Not sure about the figure from last season.

Now no doubt success makes it easier to win fans over, however surely if we have an active role in India, especially being the 1st in - playing pre-season games or training sessions, getting U16 kids excited about the chance to win a dream move to the English Premier League and setting up academies in key areas – we can surely either find the best local talent or at least gain a large number of new fans. It makes sense to try it, especially with Indian Owners, and ideally with an Indian or Global company sponsoring our shirts.

Whilst its good that we are starting to go into India, I would like to see us do much, much more over the next few months/ years – whether that be from setting up multiple academies, setting up coaching sessions with some of our coaches or by promoting more over there…..we need to try and get a solid start before any other clubs really have a go!

The link below above is interesting because it shows Kolkata is seen as the home of Indian Football, but Goa is quickly catching up. It also mentions metros like Mumbai as being huge and infact the young population now appear to play football more than Cricket. 3 cities which we are running football tournaments in. Indian Football - Big future

One line from that Article – “India is all set to become the leading football nation in Asia in next few years time”

[Emge]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_in_India

Sorry if it has already been posted

[Paul]

Cricket is their sport – however Football is the quickest growing sport .... time”

Hughesy it's difficult not to admire your ceaseless optimism in all things Rovers but for me all of this is a big "so what."

Being big in India is not going to earn the money needed to sustain the club. This is the crucial point, Rovers in PL terms are skint. No number of shirt sales is ever going to generate the money we need. Big in India is pointless, we need to start by being big in the north-west.

Even if we were to find the first Indian megastar it would not have a serious impact off the field.

[Parsonblue]

Now no doubt success makes it easier to win fans over, however surely if we have an active role in India, especially being the 1st in - playing pre-season games or training sessions, getting U16 kids excited about the chance to win a dream move to the English Premier League and setting up academies in key areas – we can surely either find the best local talent or at least gain a large number of new fans. It makes sense to try it, especially with Indian Owners, and ideally with an Indian or Global company sponsoring our shirts.

Whilst its good that we are starting to go into India, I would like to see us do much, much more over the next few months/ years – whether that be from setting up multiple academies, setting up coaching sessions with some of our coaches or by promoting more over there…..we need to try and get a solid start before any other clubs really have a go!

All of the above, whilst it might be quite admirable, counts for nothing if season ticket holders in Blackburn are not renewing their tickets because they are disillusioned with the way in which the club is being run back here in Lancashire. Lets build up the fan base in Blackburn and the surrounding area first because, ultimately, if they lose the local support, the club is finished anyway.

While the Rao family might get mileage out of their Indian marketing programmes, the fact remains that they need to spend more time concentrating on rebuilding the team back at Ewood Park both on and off the pitch. Rather than talking about building the brand, I suspect the fans who actually pay their hard earned money to watch games might be more appreciative of a few decent signings rather than more of their empty promises.

[roversmum]

As you know, I have tried to see the best in Venky's, but I am seriously worried now. BRFC is Blackburn Rovers in Blackburn, not in Pune. The ambitions for India are all very well but Blackburn Rovers in Blackburn is floundering, and steps need to be taken to sort things out.

[Hughesy]

If they can get a HUGE following in India then it will help us in several ways, whether it be from shirt sales, new sponsorship deals or promotional tours which can earn us millions of £'s in income to help build the side with.

Yes its a long shot, but its worth a try. Bigger income, should allow us to sign better players and then it should help us attract more fans back home.

[Parsonblue]

If they can get a HUGE following in India then it will help us in several ways, whether it be from shirt sales, new sponsorship deals or promotional tours which can earn us millions of £'s in income to help build the side with.

Yes its a long shot, but its worth a try. Bigger income, should allow us to sign better players and then it should help us attract more fans back home.

I admire your enthusiasm Hughesy but there are far to many mounting problems back here at Ewood that the owners ought to be focusing on. Sadly, I think this is yet another example where our owners find it easier to talk about future dreams rather then look at present realities, which at the moment, are fast turning into a nightmare.

If we should be relegated this season how many Championship shirts are they going to sell in India? How much are they going to make in TV rights showing Championship football?

I'm afraid our owners need to walk before they can run and at the moment, in terms of Premier League knowledge, they are only just beginning to crawl.

[Mattyblue]

Well said Parson, talk about fiddling while Rome burns.

[Paul]

Fantasy football. How much is a shirt these days? £30??? I don't know. Let's imagine the net, after tax, profit is £5 per shirt, total profits equal £5m on 1m shirts. That roughly equals one cheap footballer and his salary for say two years. The impact on the club is negligible.

Assuming one could sell a million shirts, unlikely in my view, compare this with improving our league position by seven places. Prize money would increase by 7 x £750,000 = £5m.

Now two questions which is the more feasible target and which has the greater impact on Rovers?

[AggyBlue]

Now two questions which is the more feasible target and which has the greater impact on Rovers?

Which has the greater impact for Venky's?

[Hughesy]

Paul - im coming at it more from a sponsorship side to the income, rather than shirt sales. Shirt sales simply help us to get bigger sponsorship deals. I do however also agree with your point about league placings.

Parson - agree totally, love the ambition to grow us in other countries but they really need to settle things at Ewood 1st. They could do that by announcing 3 or 4 good signings who would improve the side and also a new contract for Hoilett.

After that they need to start to make some solid appointments, replacing any outgoing coaches/ doctors and also a chairman or chief exec.

[AggyBlue]

After that they need to start to make some solid appointments, replacing any outgoing coaches/ doctors and also a chairman or chief exec.

I can't wait to see who the new doctor is

[Glenn]

Paul - im coming at it more from a sponsorship side to the income, rather than shirt sales. Shirt sales simply help us to get bigger sponsorship deals. I do however also agree with your point about league placings.

Are we not currently unable to find (or at least announce) a sponsor ?

[Hughesy]

Are we not currently unable to find (or at least announce) a sponsor ?

No they have turned down the ones which the commercial team came up with. Perhaps being too ambitious with the price?

[leerovers1980]

didn't kamy say last week they were hoping to announce the sponsor last week, can kamy clarify what happened with this at all ?

[Kamy100]

didn't kamy say last week they were hoping to announce the sponsor last week, can kamy clarify what happened with this at all ?

Looks like they are not nearer any announcement at the moment.

This India tour is all well and good but as other have said it is Important to get things in order here before trying to crack India. The other concern is will Rovers have access to adequate training facilities? We are at a crucial stage of preseason, the focus should be on making sure that players are 100% ready for the first game, everything else should be secondary.

Football is growing in India, unless Rovers break into the top 4 or win trophies then we are not going to get the mass Market appeal that the likes of Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea enjoy over there, just having Indian owners is not enough to crack the Indian market.

[den]

I worked in Kalpakkam at one time. The younger lads working in the hotel would wait for us to get back in the evening simply to talk about cricket. They were unbelievably fanatical about it. We took some of them to Madras where they wanted to show us where "Ian Botham danced with the Indian supporters outside Madras cricket ground".

Mention football to them and they had nothing to say. They weren't interested at all and knew practically nothing about the game in England.

[Mattyblue]

Now only a straw poll, but on that infamous Granada Reports err report, the fella asked some kids 'Sachin Tendulkar? Cue hysteria. He then went 'Wayne Rooney?' Blank faces.

Does anybody HONESTLY think that a mid table BRFC are EVER going to have any

recognition in India? One of our players as an idol for Indian youth?

sorry Negative Nellie again, but heads need taking out the clouds and back focusing on what actually matters.

[wakinho]

As it always happens, things which are shown on Tv here about India are always bad things, as this is what attracts the people into watching it. If they were to show a normal persons life in India, it wouldn't be very different to what we do here.

This was also true when the Grenada people interviewed people from the slums of Pune, who obviously are clueless about Rooney et all! Don't be surprised, but the Premier League is the most watched sporting event after cricket, and I'm sure BRFC will soon have a few followers in India.

[JAL]

As you know, I have tried to see the best in Venky's, but I am seriously worried now. BRFC is Blackburn Rovers in Blackburn, not in Pune. The ambitions for India are all very well but Blackburn Rovers in Blackburn is floundering, and steps need to be taken to sort things out.

Remember philipl posting that Venky's were taking the Blackburn out of Blackburn Rovers now i'm beginning to get a feel to what he meant. Its very concerning at the moment.

Would have thought the existing Walker family might be feeling a little bit uncomfortable about who they sold Rovers to last November.