For the past year, Liverpool Football Club has been in the throes of a fierce takeover battle that involves, among other things, court cases in the United States and Britain and the government-owned Royal Bank of Scotland. The 118-year-old club is an institution in football-mad Britain, its most successful club in European footballing history and it has an enormous global fan following. Yet not once through the months of the controversy has any politician thought fit to pronounce, unilaterally or otherwise, on bankrupt Liverpool FC’s problems. These are certainly a big deal in a country in which the sport plays a far greater economic role than cricket does in India.
Contrast this with the shenanigans over the Indian Premier League (IPL) of the last six months. In that period, one junior minister has resigned (Shashi Tharoor), another has been dragged in by virtue of his actions as former head of cricket's governing body, the Board of Cricket Control in India (Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar), and Parliament even had a debate on the issue that forced Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to make a statement in the Lok Sabha. Even Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was roped in for discussions. Sideshows have involved Aviation Minister Praful Patel and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who was close to Lalit Modi, the disgraced creator and administrator of IPL.
What with our internal and external problems, inflation and terrorism, you'd think all these people would have better things to do. But with the BCCI cancelling the franchises of Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals for opaque shareholding and a big question mark over the Kochi franchise (in which Tharoor was allegedly involved), more political drama can be guaranteed, since many of the people concerned have powerful connections in the corridors of power.
If people are looking for a reason to explain the chronic problems of India’s sporting administration, the differences between the Liverpool FC and IPL controversies are as good as any. Liverpool FC is affiliated to the Football Association, Europe’s oldest. This is an autonomous institution that governs professional and amateur football in the country. Although a member of the royal family heads it by tradition — but that’s as far as the association goes — members of the FA’s governing body mostly rise through the ranks. Its board comprises representatives of the major leagues — including the English Premier League on which the IPL is loosely modelled. No politician, not even the sports minister, is involved in its day-today running.
The BCCI, on the other hand, remains closely affiliated to local and national politicians, a bond that is unlikely to weaken now that Mr Pawar, who heads the international governing council, has his protégé as its head. As the sole gainer from India’s collective mania for the game, it was (and is) the richest cricket association in the world. With Lalit Modi’s IPL, the stakes in the game became immeasurably higher — this is now global cricket's richest property, with all the implications that go with it. In April, Mr Mukherjee told reporters that the IPL controversy could not be “solved like instant coffee”. Maybe not, but he can make a start by initiating an explicit mandate forbidding anyone holding political office from a direct or indirect role in BCCI, IPL or any sporting body for that matter. In fact, it is time politicians were shown the door out of sports unless they have a professional background in the concerned sport. Once that's done, the solution will show itself.