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’We started a dream'
Not so long ago, football plunged into almost nothingness as the country's football chiefs, having failed to inject funds into the game, only lived on aids from football's world and Asian governing bodies. After decades of living in the oblivion, football seemed to take off with a new leadership at the helm of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). Still, the Kazi Salahuddin-led committee struggled to put the game on the field due to lack of financial support but then came Citycell with the biggest ever sponsorship deal in Bangladesh's football history. The Tk 16.5-crore agreement for three years has made Citycell and BFF 'partners in progress'and the outcome was evident during the Super Cup final last month when a 40,000-strong crowd enjoyed the game. It definitely proves that football is on the right track again but the sponsors think that ‘they have miles to go' to build on this success. The Daily Star senior reporter Al Musabbir Sadi spoke to Citycell's Head of Marketing Dr. Anand Rajasingham at his office on Thursday about the sponsors' view on shaping football in the last few months. Here is an excerpt of that interview:
Daily Star (DS): Citycell came forward to help football at a stage when football was not on the field. Why did you take such a risk?
Anand Rajasingham (AR): It was a risk. We didn't have evidence of football's popularity. But we had faith in Kazi Salahuddin and his achievements as a player. We also watched the enthusiasm around the BFF election. We believed that it was possible football could take off as it had potential.
DS: You think football has become a product in the last nine or ten months?
AR: No. We can best say it's a local product, which is in a better position than it was ten months earlier, certainly better than domestic cncket although internationally, cricket is far ahead. We would consider our football as a product, as a global one. when ESPN or Star Sports start telecasting Bangladeshi football to the world.
In the English Premier League, you have to spend about 50 or 60 pounds to buy a ticket. But here the Super Cup final ticket cost one just Tk 30. It does not even cover the BFF' s costs.
,DS: Are you happy in terms of business? You are a business ho use after all... AR: Its not direct business for us because we have, not done anything sales oriented so far. Most of the cellphone oper- ators here spend huge amounts for advertisements. Even we have to do that but we wanted to contribute and get to the people through football using some of that money.
DS: From the Federation Cup to the houseful stadium of the Super Cup final, how would you explain football's rise? AR: The spectators' interest is inspiring. A lot of fans watched the Federation Cup final which was positive. But it increased day by day. Now we have to raise the standard of the game so people stay with football.
DS: Your contract with the BFF is renewable every year. Hope you would continue...
AR: The decision has not been made yet. We are happy at what has happened so far. But the Super Cup is history now. We need to see plans for the next year and it must be better than the first year. If we are convinced that the BFF would be able to improve and we feel comfortable working with them, we will of course continue. We can't rest on what we've achieved so far. We believe that Kazi Salahuddin will deliver on his visions. DS: Do you think that the Super Cup was a cosmetic surgery done to give football in Dhaka a facelift because what happened here is not the real picture of the whole country?
AR: The life people see in Dhaka is not real. Outside it is completely different and more than 60 percent people are below poverty. So doing some cosmetic surgery in the capital doesn't have value. We want to reach those people through football. We will not get overnight results by building football schools or academies. We need to go to grassroots and make resources available for them. The target should be qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. It'snotimpossible.
If a country like Australia with 20 million people can be world class in cricket, hockey, swimming and even football, Bangladesh can do it with 150 million people because the talent is definitely there. We just need to discover them and give them opportunity. We have to put a structure so boys can be trained from early age and go on. If that happens, there is no reason why we can't go far.
DS: Any spacial message for football?
AR: The special message is that you don't stop after achieving some initial results. It's a temptation to sit back and say yes we have done a good job. But the job we have done so far is just the beginning. If we stop here, all the good work we've done is wasted. We have been here for a short time. Our responsibility is to lay a foundation on which our future generations can achieve better results.
And if we don't do that, we have done a great disturbance for the future generation. We've
achieved something and we need to carry on. Within our lifetime we have set a vision: Bangladesh qualifying for the 2020 WC. May be we will achieve it, may be we won't. But if we don't try, we can't get close to it. If we try and get close to it, may be the next generation will be able to do it.
We had a generation of players like Salahuddin who took the game to one level. But we didn't build on it and take it to the next level. We went backwards. Now we have to start from the beginning. Whether we stay or not doesn't matter, Citycell wants to be remembered as the company that started the revival of football.
One day Bangladesh will be somewhere else and Citycell no longer be there but we can say we started a dream. We don't remain satisfied with what we have. We need to go forward.