Vishnu Prasad By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: There was an air of anticipation around Nehru Park in Chetpet on Sunday. The solitary stand at the venue, which Indian Super League teams usually use as a training ground, was filled with people wearing blue shirts, chattering excitedly about the how Chennaiyin FC had routed Bengaluru FC in the ISL final a day before. Kids, some of them as young as six or seven, duelled over which player had been more important.

But then a momentary hush went over the stand and something glimmered in the afternoon sun from the other end of the ground. In a few moments, the stand was empty and everyone was at the barricade separating the playing area from everything else. The Chennaiyin team were walking in with two trophies — one which they had won in 2015 but had been unable to parade around their home city due to the floods that ravaged Chennai that year. The other was brand new, a blank space awaiting an inscription yet to be engraved. The 2017-18 Indian Super League trophy!

The victory is perhaps the most consequential one for an Indian Super League club yet — the AFC Cup slot on offer for the victors ensured that. At the post-match press conference, the club’s co-owner Vita Dani countered a question about Bengaluru FC dominating the group stages by claiming that they had a very consistent season too. Indeed, Chennaiyin’s victory in the final was their eighth straight unbeaten game. It was the second time they had beaten Bengaluru in Bengaluru and in the semifinal, they had trounced FC Goa, the other favourites. But what did it mean off the pitch? Dani spoke of how the win, and the prospect of playing at a continental level, had caused a number of sponsors to check in about extending their deals. But perhaps the biggest consequence is for football in the city as a whole.

There’s nothing like success to solidify a fan base, turn a passing interest in the game or a club into a passion. Success is the reason why Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid are three of the more popular clubs around the world, while a Tottenham or an Atletico Madrid elicit only seasonal interest. Success is perhaps why football thrived in Kolkata — East Bengal and Mohun Bagan had some of the best teams in Indian football history and success is a big chunk of why Bengaluru FC were able to build a fan base.

On Sunday, the thousand or so fans who gathered at the Nehru Park were perhaps the first hint of a much brighter future for Chennaiyin FC. Take 13-year-old Hari Balan for example. “I first started watching in the 2015 season when we won the title. After that, I have been to every home game,” he says. He now idolises Gregory Nelson and hopes he stays.

Maybe, some years into the future, a Chennaiyin victory will be celebrated by tens of thousands of fans clogging the streets of the city, like how they do in Manchester or Madrid. And if such a day ever comes, there will be a handful of them who will talk of a warm Sunday afternoon in 2018 when they decided they were going to watch Chennaiyin play every time they could.

Gregory to stay

Chennaiyin FC manager John Gregory will stay for at least one more year, the club’s co-owner Vita Dani announced. “He will stay for next year as well. It will be a one-year contract because that is how he likes it,” she said. Gregory, meanwhile, heaped praise on his players, especially the Indian ones. “I think all the Indian players are much better than what they were when we came in. I am not saying that they are a 100 per cent better, but they have all shown improvement.”

vishnu.prasad@newindianexpress.com