They came, they saw, they didn't go bonkers

Many more people than expected watched the Durand Cup final, but where was the partisan passion that creates the true football crowd?

For the typical Indian armchair football aficionado, whose weekly television diet includes six to eight hours of European football action, watching the Durand Cup final at the Ambedkar Stadium was an eye-opener in more than one regard.

To be honest, no more than a paltry crowd of spectators was expected to turn up to watch the match in which Churchill Brothers took on Mahindra United. But to much surprise and delight the stands were full and there was a more-than-decent crowd, something which one would expect only if entry for the general public was free of cost. The size of the crowd was also surprising considering that it is the festive season, when most of the city is out on the streets shopping and clogging the roads!

This crowd compared well with the one at Ferozeshah Kotla last week when the Delhi cricket team took on Pakistan. Then, the stands were more than half empty. Entry to the stadium for the football match was quite hassle-free, something which can't happen before a cricket match.

A few regulars informed that it wasn't just the final which had seen a good crowd. The rest of the tournament, at least the knockout stages, drew a decent crowd. "Now that is an encouraging sign for Indian football," says Neerav Tomar, director Infinity Optimal Sports, the company organising the Durand Cup.

Spectator interest was fuelled by India's historic triumph at the Nehru Cup a couple of months ago, incidentally also held in Delhi. Traditionally, in Kolkata, a Mohun Bagan versus East Bengal match gets a massive crowd of close to a lakh, and an ODI in Eden Garden gets about the same.

After watching a riveting match on the telly last weekend between Arsenal and Manchester United, I wasn't expecting too much quality to be on display. To be fair, few matches across the world would compare to that one. But still, both the teams put up a decent show, and the match turned out to be a scrappy affair, as often happens in tournament finals. Churchill Brothers held their nerve and won the match by a solitary goal, thanks to their captain, Nigerian Odafe Oneyka.

While passion and spectator involvement has always been high in Kolkata and parts of Goa, it is slowly filtering through to the rest of the country as well. The Durand Cup final could be the start of something new. Of course the crowd had its fair share of pseudo watchers who would have struggled to tell which colour jersey Mahindra were wearing. "But that's not important at this moment. We need crowds to trickle in first and then take it step by step," an organiser commented, while watching the action.

If there was the pseudo crowd, then there were also far too many people who were interested in the happenings. Every shot that whistled past the goal drew oohs and aahs, and mazy runs and crunching tackles were applauded. A gentleman cursing Delhi traffic made his way to the seat next to me and animatedly asked, "Who scored?" I told him Odafe had. He launched into praises of Odafe and probably knew almost everything about him! Another lady watching the game commented how the quarter final between JCT Mills and Salgaocar FC was more entertaining than the final. This was not cricket, and yet there were regulars. This was not Kolkata, yet there were people who were clued in.

The only problem was that 95 per cent of the spectators were neutrals, something which should never be the case while watching football. To be passionately involved in any game, you need to support a team. But the crowd at Ambedkar Stadium was cheering both teams, which was fine, but just didn't generate enough passion. There was no one in the crowd wearing a Mahindra or a Churchill jersey, although there were a few school children who were given team flags to wave, probably by the sponsors.

Football as a sport thrives on regional rivalries across the globe. And that is what people associated with Indian football have been crying out loud for, for quite some time now. Neville Tuli, chairman of art and auction house Osian's, the main sponsor of the Durand Cup, believes it's an evolving process and that crowd involvement will grow eventually.

The signs are positive for football to become a true crowd-puller. Five years down the line, who knows, a game between New Delhi Heroes and another Delhi club might just need you to queue up outside the stadium two hours before kick-off!