EFLI, the country’s first professional American football league, is set for launch in November this year and Jeff Whelan, the coaching commissioner, is in the country to prepare the athletes, all beginners in the sport, for the rigors of playing pro football – American style.
CHENNAI: “And a touchdown,” screamed Jeff Whelan through the microphone, the tone reminding one of the deep – throated efforts of network commentators during ‘Super Bowl’.
Yes, it’s American football, right here in Chennai as trainees from the ‘player and coaches orientation program of Elite Football League of India (EFLI) played an exhibition match in front of a group of a cheering squad of physical education students and sports enthusiasts at the YMCA Nandanam grounds on Friday.
The league, which is based on the format of America’s National Football League(NFL), will have 10 teams in the inaugural season, says Whelan.
“Initially the plan was just to have an eight-team league but with the overwhelming response from athletes across the country for our orientation program we have decided to expand it to 10 cities,” says Whelan, explaining the format and the basic framework of EFLI.
“All the players in the league will be contracted and will be paid as they will play professionally here.
“India has a huge pool of talent. But these athletes, be it a wrestler, judo or a kabaddi player or from the track, they train hard and excel but the reward they receive is small compared to the efforts they put in. Besides, not all of them make it big either. Here we are providing these good athletes another sport and a good career option,” said Whelan.
Be it a new career option or just fascination towards a new sport, the orientation program attracted around 140 athletes here, the seventh event organized by the league so far in the country. The five-day program will end on Saturday with 40 players being selected for further training for the Chennai team, their head coach being Gopinath.
“The response here has been huge,” says Gopinath, a former rugby player christened into American football a couple of months back during a similar orientation program in Delhi.
“The boys have picked up the game so fast, as you could see from the match today. They learnt the basics in the last four days and once we select the 40 best from here we will go to higher skills. We will get the selected players proper protective gear and helmets and everything before the rigorous training begins,” said Gopinath, who is also planning a similar training program in one of the inner districts of Tamil Nadu as he believes these rural areas will provide the real talent for his team.
Whelan agrees and explains the league is looking to develop Indian talent and that is why foreign players are not allowed in any of the teams. “We want to create a platform for the Indian players. The league also has a broadcast tie-up that will ensure the sponsors will come in and the pro league will grow.”
The NFL in the US had started with just 11 teams. So Whelan has reasons to be optimistic about. But it remains to be seen whether things will become really professional with beginners having just one year to train to play at a big stage in a sport they have never played before. Lack of a collegiate structure for the sport, which is the supply chain of athletes for the NFL in the US and one of the reasons for its success, is also not available here.
If foreign players are allowed to play, things would be a little better as the Indians would improve faster, playing with seasoned pros, and the quality of the games would be higher.
But Whelan says these factors won’t hamper the growth of the league, and believes the team of coaches of EFLI, which includes former NFL players and hall-of-fame coaches would be able to mold a group of elite athletes.
“As of now it is the initially stages. We will select 40 athletes for each of the teams and they will be paid a monthly salary and we will train them and next year we will select the final players for the team and then it will be show time and India will have their own version of the ‘Super Bowl’,” added Whelan.
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