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AIFF President Praful Patel Wins CNBC's Sports Personality Of The Year Award
The Indian FA president is honoured by one of the leading business channels in the country...
04-Dec-2009 8:52:50 AM
The civil aviation minister in the Union government, Praful Patel was awarded the Sports Business Leader of the Year which recognises someone, who has made it to the top in the field of sport and can be credited with spectacular achievement in the past one or two years. at the CNBC India Business Leader Awards 2009. Patel officially took charge of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) presidency on October 20 while being the acting president ever since November 22 last year since Priyaranjan Dasmunsi was hospitalized.
The jury for the award includes well-known personalities such as HDFC chairman, Deepak Pareikh, Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries Limited,Kumaramangalam Birla of the Aditya Birla Group, and Uday Kotak with the function being held at the Taj Palace in the Indian capital. It was learnt that Patel could attend the function for ten minutes or so and former AIFF Vision India director and football consultant, Dr.Shaji Prabhakaran received the award on behalf of the well-known politician.
"Patel has done a good job in his tenure and the future is bright. Football is what the future is and it's time that corporates come forward and take a keen interest in the sport," said Dr.Prabhakaran.
His tenure has marked the beginning of a new era in Indian football with Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shelling out Rs. 25 crores to aid the development of the world's most popular game in India. The Indian sports ministry has also lend financial support for the preparation for the 2010 Asian Games as the Indian FA got richer by another Rs. 10 crores.
In his very first Executive Committee which he chaired, he floated the idea of keeping the national players together for a period of eighteen months in order to prepare for the 2011 Asia Cup. Though the move didn’t work due to financial and lack of clarity as to how to go about it, the ambitiousness and the tendency to think different from the outdated systems, which would make any enthusiastic individual pull his hair off, was a welcome change. On the marketing front, he named 'Sallu' Salman Khan as the brand ambassador for Indian football following the Nehru Cup triumph.
However, it hasn't been an all positive journey as some of the decisions during his time in charge have been detrimental to the progress of the game in the country. The Executive Committee has allowed for five foreign players in the I-League, which hasn't gone well with Houghton, who has time and again been vocal about this.
Also, the interviews for the post of Indian FA general secretary is still in the air as the citizens of the nation are still in the dark, as well as those involved in the sport, as to what the future holds given that current general secretary, Alberto Colaco has publicly mentioned his intention to leave the Indian FA on several occasions and was recently given an extension until the end of the present year.
The AIFF still continues to be far from being a professional unit as things are being carried out at a snail's pace and several age group tournaments weren't held this year including the U-19 I-League. The reputation capital of the Indian FA has to be built and that can be done by having a proper vision and a collective effort to reach the goal keeping all the parties involved at various levels and capacities. It's still surprising that India have the best of the coaches in Bob Houghton and Colin Toal and it's essential to utilize their expertise to develop the game on various fronts.
Rahul Bali
The jury for the award includes well-known personalities such as HDFC chairman, Deepak Pareikh, Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries Limited,Kumaramangalam Birla of the Aditya Birla Group, and Uday Kotak with the function being held at the Taj Palace in the Indian capital. It was learnt that Patel could attend the function for ten minutes or so and former AIFF Vision India director and football consultant, Dr.Shaji Prabhakaran received the award on behalf of the well-known politician.
"Patel has done a good job in his tenure and the future is bright. Football is what the future is and it's time that corporates come forward and take a keen interest in the sport," said Dr.Prabhakaran.
His tenure has marked the beginning of a new era in Indian football with Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shelling out Rs. 25 crores to aid the development of the world's most popular game in India. The Indian sports ministry has also lend financial support for the preparation for the 2010 Asian Games as the Indian FA got richer by another Rs. 10 crores.
In his very first Executive Committee which he chaired, he floated the idea of keeping the national players together for a period of eighteen months in order to prepare for the 2011 Asia Cup. Though the move didn’t work due to financial and lack of clarity as to how to go about it, the ambitiousness and the tendency to think different from the outdated systems, which would make any enthusiastic individual pull his hair off, was a welcome change. On the marketing front, he named 'Sallu' Salman Khan as the brand ambassador for Indian football following the Nehru Cup triumph.
However, it hasn't been an all positive journey as some of the decisions during his time in charge have been detrimental to the progress of the game in the country. The Executive Committee has allowed for five foreign players in the I-League, which hasn't gone well with Houghton, who has time and again been vocal about this.
Also, the interviews for the post of Indian FA general secretary is still in the air as the citizens of the nation are still in the dark, as well as those involved in the sport, as to what the future holds given that current general secretary, Alberto Colaco has publicly mentioned his intention to leave the Indian FA on several occasions and was recently given an extension until the end of the present year.
The AIFF still continues to be far from being a professional unit as things are being carried out at a snail's pace and several age group tournaments weren't held this year including the U-19 I-League. The reputation capital of the Indian FA has to be built and that can be done by having a proper vision and a collective effort to reach the goal keeping all the parties involved at various levels and capacities. It's still surprising that India have the best of the coaches in Bob Houghton and Colin Toal and it's essential to utilize their expertise to develop the game on various fronts.
Rahul Bali
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