In 2013 Social Media brings fans even more closer to the Sport

Social Media, Sports, Football, India, Indianfootball, Soccer, Kerala, Winter Olympics, Shiv KeshavanWe have been hearing about social media, the role it supposedly played in protests, revolutions and some times even in regime changes. But what happens in sports, especially in India? While all the international sporting events do trend on Social Media, here in India with the surge of smart phones, a quiet revolution is taking place.

Social media has helped the enthusiast to be closer to the action. For instance take football, we are at point where we could track state league matches happening in Mizoram or Arunachal and at the same time listen to some quirky over the top rumors of  foreign players that are going to play in the I-league.

The only struggle is to the be in the right network. And If you are in, bits and pieces of information, multimedia in pictures and even videos would dot your timeline. And that is how the unfortunate gallery collapse video from Bekal, Kerala went viral world wide.

On 15th December before a seven a side match, the gallery collapsed. There were innumerable people filming a small kid juggling football on the ground and there the gallery sunk in like a houdini act taking down 100s of people. Within hours the video was up on youtube being watched and shared by many. Eventually we saw it appear on Telegraph.co.uk!

Pictures, score updates, posters of upcoming matches, almost everything that you need is on social media today when it comes to football. There are also Clubs, players, administrators and media on social media who intervenes in the streams of conversation on sports.

The sports educationists are in there too. Academies, schools, Training camps, all of them are using social media to engage and publicize their efforts.

There are lively communities and discussion boards where not so gracious people fight over and also have meaningful discussion on the sport. There are #hashtags that you can follow to stay updated on sports. For football in India, #Indianfootball and #ileague offers constant stream of information.

The real attraction is also about getting to know the sport in your backyard. A Seven-a-side football fan from Kerala can stay updated himself through scores, pictures and videos on the go. Sporting attractions which were largely local and not in the mainstream gets more traction through social media, there by increasing the interest of people.

Social actions such as crowd funding and crowd sourcing could be a good way forward for sports in India. The recent example of Winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan is a move in that direction. Mobile data and applications such as Whatsapp and other messengers are also helping the fans and supporters  to engage real time.

While we mainly track football we have also come across fan pages and twitter profiles for other sports too. Social media is forging a new way in India for sports, it has changed the way enthusiasts enjoy their sport.

Shashi Tharoor Inaugurates Kerala’s Santosh Trophy Camp

Kerala, Santosh Trophy, Thiruvananthapuram, Camp, Football, Indianfootball, Shashi TharoorShashi Tharoor has officially inaugurated Kerala’s Santosh Trophy camp. Marking the occasion,  Tharoor handed over a ball to the chief coach A.M Sreedharan and Satheevan Balan and flowers to the players that are currently in the camp.

Shashi Tharoor urged the players to better off last years campaign in which Kerala ended up as runners-up in the championship.

Currently there are 25 players in the camp of the 37 that are selected. Rest of the players will join the camp when the State Club football Championship that is taking place in Meenangadi, Wayanad ends.

In Santosh Trophy which is played in zonal basis this time around, Kerala’s first match is against Andhra Pradesh in Chennai on January 26th.

The inaugural function that took place in LNCPE, Thiruvananthapuram was attended Kerala Football Association president K.M.A Mather, SAI Director General Gigi Thomson, and various other dignitaries

FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour in India

FIFA, World Cup, Trophy, Tour, India, Kolkata, 2014, BrazilKolkata will get a chance to see the FIFA World Cup™ Trophy that will come down to the city from Kathmandu where the trophy is today on in its tour.

Over the last month Kolkata has been witnessing football madness with celebrations across city paras and communities as part of Coca-Cola’s 2014 FIFA World Cup Campaign.

The trophy will station in Kolkata for 3 days from 22nd of December to 24th of December.

The FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola is on its longest journey to date, visiting 88 countries over a span of 9 months.

Check out more details here.

IMG in IMG – Reliance Sold Off

IMG, IMG-Reliance, Football, India, Soccer, InternationalInternational Management Group (IMG)  the global sports, entertainment and fashion agency has sold off to competitors William Morris Endeavor (WME) and their financial backer Silver Lake Partners.William-Morris-Endeavor

 

 

IMG – Reliance the Indian version of the management agency caused a stir among the Indian football fans with the now postponed Indian Super League. We will have to wait and see what beholds the Indian Super League now.

A.M Sreedharan is the Santosh Trophy Coach for Kerala

AM Sreedharan, Football, Kerala, Soccer, Indianfootball, Santosh Trophy, State, ClubA.M Sreedharan has been appointed as the coach of Kerala team for the upcoming Santosh Trophy.  Previously he had coached the Kerala team four times for Santosh Trophy.

His team finished runners-up in the Cuttack championship in 1994 and on all other occasions managed a sem-final birth.

Kerala team lost to Services last year while the championship was held in Kerala. This would be an attempt to grab the championship they missed by a whisker last year.

35 players were selected from the recently concluded State Senior Football Championship and the rest will be selected from the ongoing State Club Championship.

Federation Cup 2013-14 – Kochi & Manjeri – Fixtures

Football, Indianfootball, Federation Cup, Kerala, Soccer, Kochi, Federation Cup 2013-14 , Manjeri, Football, Kerala, indianfootball, I-League, Payyanad, StadiumFederation Cup 2013-14 comes to kerala. Kochi and Manjeri will host the matches. Teams are divided in to four groups – A,B,C &D.

Group A & C matches will take place in Kochi and Group B & D matches at Manjeri.

Football fans in Malappuram has been waiting for ever for a top level tournament to take place in the district.  They will be duly rewarded when they get to see top I-league teams and a host of other teams looking to get promoted to the top tier of the country playing.

The semi-finals and finals of Federation Cup 2013-14 will take place in Kochi.  Eagles FC is the only Kerala out fit in the competition.

Group A [JNStadium, Kochi] :

[matches league_id=6 Group=A]

Group B [MDS Complex, Manjeri] :

[matches league_id=6 Group=B]

Group C [JNStadium, Kochi] :

[matches league_id=6 Group=C]

Group D [MDS Complex, Manjeri] :

[matches league_id=6 Group=D]

Video : Gallery Collapses in Kerala during Football Match

Over 50 football fans hurt as gallery collapses in Kerala

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6j9umukIgg]

Kasargod: More than 50 people were injured when a temporary iron gallery erected for an all India Sevens’ football tournament collapsed at Bekal in this Kerala district northern-most district on Sunday night. Police said iron-pipe gallery came crashing down minutes before the match between Saban Kottakkal and Mohammadans Mouval was to be inaugurated by Uduma MLA K Kunhiraman and other football aficionados around 8 pm. Event organisers said majority of the audience had a providential escape as the iron gallery housed more than 1500 people, adding the event was deferred in view of the accident. The injured were admitted to hospitals in Uduma, Bekal, Kahangad, Kasargod and Mangalore in Karnataka, the police added. (UNI)

Nethaji Sports Club – Chennai, Bought Over by a Young Entrepreneur

Nethaji SCNethaji Sports Club one of the oldest clubs in Chennai have a new owner in Rohit Ramesh. 27 year old Rohit bought over the club from one of the stalwarts of Chennai football, Mr. T. R. Govindarajan.

The club established in 1946 was steered by Govindarajan till date. Due to the lack of sponsorship and other resources the club was relegated from the senior division 3 years ago.

In the event of this take over, Football News India caught up with Rohit to ask about his plans for the club. Rohit emphasized that his immediate concern is to get the club on track and play well in the Chennai League which starts off in February. He also pointed out that they are looking for international age-group tournaments where Nethaji Club could participate.

As of now team’s 18 players have been retained and the club is scouting to add four of five more players to their roster to strengthen.  Rohit told The Hindu“So our major perspective is to change Indian football. Especially in Tamil Nadu, as there is no team from here in the I-league. And football is growing and I think we are ‘in’ at the right time,”

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