Sports
Updated : Sep 29, 2017, 06:45 PM IST
Not everything is rosy for those plying their trade in the ISL. The league's mission is to improve the standard of football in India. And Kerala Blasters FC's David James has said that the tournament needs a few tweaks to become a really world-class tournament.
The former Liverpool custodian said that for football to improve, the country needs better training pitches. "The playing pitches are good, but infrastructure with regard to places for the teams to train needs to be improved. It's been very difficult for a lot of sides. When we're travelling, we're in good hotels, but the hotels are often an hour or more away from a training facility which is quite often inadequate. If you want a good performance you need good training facilities, so my recommendation for next year is to get some good training pitches."
He had every reason to complain as his team had to train on an artificial turf at the Cooperage Stadium in Colaba as they "didn't fancy a three-hour ride to DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai".
He feels football will improve if there are more qualified coaches. "I think there are 60 A-licensed coaches which is slightly unbelievable given the size of the country. I think the higher-qualified coaches would help and more coaches would obviously see the grassroots improve. That would in turn mean better football."
Even Atletico de Kolkata marquee player Luis Garcia said that fewer rest days between games will take a toll on players and should be avoided. "This competition has been fast-paced and it hasn't been easy for the players because of the facilities, training, flights and not enough rest. I think with games every three days, there are indeed travelling complications. There is no time to rest as we have a game every two days. So, obviously, the people who are in charge will change it next year. We played a very hard semifinal two days ago and tomorrow (Saturday) we have the final. The most important games of the competition have three days of rest. You don't have time, not to improve, but just to rest. You have rest and the players will arrive in the best condition."