Mumbai: He recently shot to fame in the sporting fraternity when his team Jaipur Pink Panthers won the inaugural Pro Kabaddi League early this year. Since then, film actor Abhishek Bachchan has been unstoppable when it came to preparations for Indian Super League (ISL) starting October 12.
“My interest in Indian football became stronger after I met FIFA president Sepp Blatter this year at the World Cup final. He told me how come we cannot produce 11 players on the field when we have 1.2 billion people in our country. Now we will prove him wrong,” said Bachchan.
Being the owner of Chennaiyin FC – the team from Chennai – he invested both time and money to build the unit.
“I did not want to compromise on quality. I don’t want anybody to come and tell me Chennayin gave the match up. We want to fight till the last minute. That’s the drive I want in all my teams, including the kabaddi team,” he said at the jersey launch of the franchise here on Monday.
The jersey, sporting a face called ‘Nazar battu’ in the Indian context is common to many houses in Chennai and across India. It is usually hung on the door to drive the evil away.
Being a basketball player once and a football fan, Bachchan, is aware of the rules of the game.
“In football, there might be situations when you are down by two goals but you need to believe that you can score three goals in ten minutes also if you want. During the 2005 UEFA Champions League final, Liverpool came back from a three-goal deficit to win the match. They scored three in six minutes to level the scores and eventually won on penalties,” added Bachchan, who also praised coach Marco Materazzi for being down to earth despite being a celebrated figure in international football.
“He doesn’t have extra demands like a car or a suite for himself. He wants to be with the boys and help them,” said the 38-year-old.
Bachchan’s favourite club football team is Chelsea and he said that he expects the same aggression from Chennaiyin FC.
“Chelsea always wants to win. They are competitive unlike many other teams in the English Premier League. I don’t want to sound controversial but I think a manager like Arsene Wenger would not have passed a single season in Chelsea,” he added.
The actor sat down with Vita Dani, the other owner, and scanned through details of every player before finalizing them for his team.
“Sadly, when Mahi (Mahendra Singh Dhoni) came, the team was already made. His ideas could have been handy. But I am glad we set up the entire infrastructure in six weeks. The conditions in India are different for we play on red soil. I had to keep in mind all these factors while selecting players. A tough tackle will hurt a player more than it does in Western countries. So we had to choose a strong bench as well,” he said.
Bachchan also said that the franchise has three or four anthems which they want to release once Dhoni comes back from national duty.
Talking about tie-ups with foreign clubs like the Kolkata franchise (Atletico De Kolkata), the actor said: “I wouldn’t want to do a tie-up like what Kolkata did, I want to build my own identity with the team. In terms of having technical expertise, I think it is a very good idea. We have had a word with few European clubs on those lines.”
However, the actor believes it is going to take at least 10 years to bring out a competitive national football team.
“We need to identify the players and a strong grassroot level programme is needed for that. We have a mandate to take almost 100 schools under our wing to train youngsters soon. I want to make football a viable career option in India.
About the infrastructure, you won’t believe that the home ground of Jaipur Pink Panthers was no less than a stable when we first went there. It develops when in use. Even if the venue is throw open to a marriage ceremony, it is not bad for the money earned from there can be used for its renovation,” he added.
