India

Insideworldfootball

Last Sunday Marcel Schmid was at Wembley to watch the New England Patriots play the St Louis Rams. Nothing remarkable in that you may think, some 84,000 others were also there as NFL made its annual foray outside its homeland in an effort to reach a worldwide audience.

But for Schmid, chairman of the International Football Arena (IFA), it provided renewed focus for one of the themes that will dominate this year’s conference in Zurich on November 12-13. This is a subject that has often puzzled him: how do NFL teams get more out of their sport despite playing a lot fewer matches than most British or European club football teams?

Schmid readily admits he has no great attachment to America’s national sport. “I do not find the game very appealing. But what is fascinating is they have a much shorter season, 18 competitive matches in a season. Imagine how many competitive matches Chelsea or Manchester United have in a season: 60/70. These teams have something like 35 home games, NFL teams have just nine.”

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OUTLOOK India

Indian cricket at 17 was like a teenager who had ‘come out’, free from her governess, and could roam the world at last. By 1949, India in world cricket was no longer India vs England.

In its first 15 years as a Test-playing country (1932-47), India played just 10 Tests, all against England. Barring some unofficial tours, cricket largely comprised matches between Hindus, Muslims, Parsees and the Rest, which had done much to nurture the game here. Just before independence, these matches, seen as a manifestation of communalism in sport and condemned by Gandhi, were stopped. However, by 1949, India had taken steps to become like other Test-playing countries with regular official home and away tours. In 13 months between January 1948 and February 1949, India doubled the number of Tests it had played in the past sixteen years.

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Colourful Radio

Latest sporting news, gossip, controversy, opinion and great music with Dan Freedman and Ugo Ehiogu.

Mihir discusses his views of the FA as a leader of a game for everyone and football in India.

Listen to the programme here (Note: Click on Listen again and look for ‘2012-10-10 14:00′. The section with Mihir starts at 14:20)

BBC Radio 4 – Today programme

Morning news and current affairs presented by James Naughtie and Evan Davis.

India has received four medals so far in the Olympics Games whereas much smaller South Korea has six times as many. Sports journalist Mihir Bose and Rachel Lee, presenter on Arirang Radio in South Korea, discuss why some countries with large populations do not perform better at Olympic Games.

Click here to listen to the programme (Note: the section with Mihir starts at 2:54:00)

Evening Standard

Image courtesy of Evening Standard

We can take it as read that the nation will express its gratitude to our Olympians, starting with the victory parade in London next month.

But how can we thank the man who created this marvellous stage for Team GB: Mr London Olympics, Seb Coe?

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