SPORTS MARKETING

ASSIGNMENT
Sayantan Guha
103
RESPONDENTS
 Male
BANESWAR 27
Kolkata
[email protected]

SARKER
•
•
Follows Tennis, Cricket, Football, Badminton and Indian Hockey
Fan of Football, Cricket and Tennis
• Arsenal Fan. Started following them after their 2003-04 invincible
season; gradually fell in love with the philosophy too.
• Started following other sports through the Star Sports show ‘Sportsline’
anchored by John Dykes, Alan Wilkins, Misha Grewal and Harsha Bhogle
• Had also started following Basketball ( used to be broadcasted on
Saturday mornings) but couldn’t manage to continue due to the odd
timings.
• Supports Brazil because when he was a kid, his uncle had asked him to;
being a bengali he is a supporter of East Bengal by birth.
 Male

DR. AAKASH 28
Kolkata
[email protected]

•
•
ROY
Follows Cricket, European and World Cup Football, Tennis
Fan of Cricket, Tennis and Football
• Follows hockey and athletics from Indian perspective and world
games.
• The first memory of a cricket game was the 1998 Dhaka
Independence Cup final where Sourav Ganguly scored 124 and India
had won. It was the last or one of the last matches of Hrishikesh
Kanitkar.
• Started watching football from 98’ FIFA World Cup and supported
Brazil because his family was doing so. He is an East Bengal fan by
his bloodline.
• A Fan of Manchester United, he started following them because of
the craze in his friends group and also with players like Rooney and
Nistelrooy, ‘It was the team to follow’
 Male
ANIRBAN 28
Kolkata
[email protected]

•
MUKHOPADHYAY
Started playing and following cricket when he was around 8 because
that’s what they played in the locality.
Brazil vs Germany FIFA WC Final 2002 was the start of his love for
football. Everyone in his housing complex was supporting Brazil and
following his nature of going against the mainstream, he decided to
support Germany and he has stuck to Germany till date.
• He started following Liverpool from 2005 Istanbul Final, was mainly
because of Steven Gerrard. It became even better when Fernando Torres
joined after 2005.
• Over the years, he started liking Liverpool’s fighting spirit and their
philosophy. “Now players don’t matter. They are icing on the cake”, he
says.
• He organises screening in ‘Bengal Kop Official Liverpool Supporter’s Club
Kolkata’ (recognised by Liverpool). They also run an academy for
underprivileged kids by putting in funds themselves. One of those kids
recently got to play for East Bengal under 13 team
 Male

SWARNAJIT 27
Kolkata [email protected]

ADHIKARY
• A Mohun Bagan fan by birth, he became a football fan because of the
FIFA World Cup 98 Semi-final between Brazil and Croatia. He has fond
memories of the double goals by Ronaldo.
• He didn’t become a Brazil fan though, he supports Argentina because he
heard stories of Maradona and grew a liking for it. He became fans of
Riqualmei, Crespo and Messi later on.
• He became a Manchester United fan because of EA Sports FIFA 2002
game. David Beckham was a star player in the PC game and he could
score from free kicks with him. Soon he took to the EPL on TV and has
never left ManU for a day ever since.
• He says that for a fan, the form of his favorite team doesn’t really
matter. ManU did quite well till 2013, now there’s a drop in
performance but he is hopeful. He further illustrated with Liverpool’s
example who hasn’t ever won the EPL, also won a league in 2004 after
1967.
 Male
PRIYAM SARKAR 28
Kolkata [email protected]

• An ardent cricket fan, he fell in love with the game of cricket after he
saw Sourav Ganguly’s 183 at Taunton, 1999 Cricket World Cup.
• He was born an East Bengal fan and later on started following the
English Premiere League
• He is a die hard fan of Liverpool and never misses a single game.
• He had once said that Liverpool is his favorite team to be a part of the
conversation in school. In order to back that claim he went back and
started reading about the club and watching its games. He did not want
to be termed as a plastic fan.
• He too is a part of ‘Bengal Kop Official Liverpool Supporter’s Club
Kolkata’ but doesn’t go to the screenings, instead he likes to enjoy the
matches at home. He doesn’t believe in merchandises
HOW DO THEY
CHOOSE SIDES?
WINNER TAKES
IT ALL
The decision to support a team is generally taken very
early in life and more often that not loyalty goes to the
team that is dominating when you start watching a sport.

It was very evident from the interviews that most Arsenal

fans became Arsenal fans after their invincible season in
2003-04, most cricket fans who became a cricket fan not
because of Sachin, were primarily hooked on to the Indian
Cricket Team playing the 2003 World Cup

There are of course ‘plastic fans’ who follow or become fans

of whichever team is winning and they would leave no stone
unturned to prove their loyalty for whatever period they are
‘fans’
 THE HERO HUB
Some become fans of the sport or the team due to just one
person in the team. Lakhs of people watched cricket just
because of Sachin Tendulkar. In the same way thousands of
people started following Manchester United due to David
Beckham.

Some fans shift loyalty when their players retire or move to

other teams. One interesting example would be the case of
increasing fanbase of Manchester City. Barcelona under coach
Pep Gurdiola was known for Tiki Taka when Iniesta was
playing. They moved to a counter attacking style after Iniesta
left. Now that Pep is coaching Manchester City, a part of that
playing style has been recognised by fans and they are
supporting Manchester City.
 WHAT’s
AROUND
A person choosing a side is also
dependent on where he is growing up and
what the general fan culture is around
him. All the respondents were born and
brought up in Kolkata and when it comes
to International Football, most localities
are either one of Brazil or Argentina.

Few people manage to break away later

on but most people stick to these early
affiliations. This also happens when a
family member you admire dictate that “X
is the best side”
 WHAT’S IN A
SURNAME?
This one is Bengal specific but it may hold true in some aspect
around the world. In West Bengal there are mainly 2 types of
Bengalis, Ghoti and Bangal. Ghotis are the group native to the
state of West Bengal while Bangals are the people having
ancestral origins in East Bengal (Bangladesh)

For a Bengali living in West Bengal, the choice of local football is

decided at birth. If you are a Ghoti you must
follow Mohun Bagan, if you are a Bangal you must support East
Bengal.

While the rivalry between the two teams is real, gruesome and
intense, one will find many die-hard East Bengal or Mohun Bagan
fans who neither know the name of a single player nor do they
watch their matches.
WHAT MAKES A FAN
CLING ON TO THEIR
TEAMS?
PHILOSOPHY &
HISTORY
Although the first trigger for becoming a fan is the
immediate surroundings, family, friends, a good game, a
sports hero etc., a sports fan become retrospective over the
years and that is where philosophy and history of a sports
or club comes into play. For example one of the respondent
said that although he started following Liverpool because
of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, later on when they
did not have a good team, he started identifying with their
philosophy of nothing comes without hard work, starting
humble etc.
Similarly Manchester United fans are also proud of their
rich heritage and history
THE ACCESS
The English Premier League started broadcasting in India from
the 2001–2002 season. The first game week was on August
18th, 2001. Initially they only used to broadcast 2-3 matches
per game week only of teams such as Arsenal, Manchester
United and Liverpool. This is a big reason why these teams
enjoy a huge fan following in India

Later on this has translated into a number of fan clubs who are
associated with the teams in official capacity. E.g. Manchester
United’s India Fan Club ‘I Love United’

With sports streaming sites coming to the forefront a few years

back there is no looking back
THE RESPONSE FA N S
AE DIL HAI MUSHKIL
While, the fans might have believed in ‘Ek tarfa
pyaar’ for years, much to the delight of the fans, the
clubs have started reciprocating and that has only
strengthened the bond. More than ever. Case in
point: Clubs like Chelsea posting in Indian vernacular
on their official social media handles

CLUBS
DIL SE
THE UNEXPLAINABLE LOYALTY
 CREATING AND
NURTURING A
FUTURE SPORTS FAN
SO WHO IS A
SPORTS FAN
• Someone who goes beyond just the scorelines

• Someone whose degree of association with his/her favorite team is way above
a normal sports enthusiast.

• Someone who has an opinion on the sport, the team and the players.

• Someone who reads up about everything about the favorite team or player and
likes to be a part of every conversation around it

• And way more

HOW DO WE CREATE AND
NURTURE SPORTS FAN
• Making sports compulsory in schools

• Having more sports facilities and making them accessible to more people

• Making community viewing easier by letting multiplexes screen matches

• Promotions on season tickets of Sports

• Creation of academies to nurture talents from grassroot level especially in small

town and villages.
THANK YOU